Brook Milligan wrote
>    > Modified Files:
>    > 	pkgsrc/graphics/xv: Makefile
>    > 
>    > Log Message:
>    > Do not depend on (any) ghostscript.
>    > If people want to view postscript, there are better viewers.
> 
>    Is it still possible to compile xv with gs support ? It can be convenient to
>    read postscipt with xv (to convert to another format for exemple).
> 
> Or to write a postscript version of some image.  (Or does that not
> require gs?)

It would be nice if this was optional, especially for packages that
build without GS.

On another point, why are we insisting on changing the dependencies of
packages needing GS to the absolute latest version? In most cases, older
versions such as GS[4,5] still work fine with other packages. What I am
saying here is, make dependencies a little more flexible by excepting
older versions of GS whenever possible.

Let me explain this with an example below.

The system in question runs stable for more than 12 month and is used
as a software development platform. 

On this system, it was decided to install a new package requiring GS.
GS5 is already installed and used by numerous other packages. This
shouldn't be much of an exercise if it wasn't for the GS dependencies.
Instead of just building and installing the new package, it will now
require an upgrade to a new version of GS and to make things worse, all
other packages depending on it. But wait, there is more. Current
interdependency rules now create a snowball effect requiring to
upgrade many of the secondary packages too, resulting in a large
proportion of the packages tree of being updated.

Now these are points of concern:

	1.) Excessive downtime due to installation/upgrade

	2.) Uncertainty on system stability after installation/upgrade

	3.) Software previously developed on this system 
	    may nolonger be compatible 

The only way of dealing with it in the current environment is by
manually tweaking the dependencies or by building the package outside
the packages tree.

BTW: The above scenario holds true for many other packages that have
packages interdependencies. 

Just my 2 cents worth...

cheerio Berndt
-- 
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