Re: lib/40346: libexpat should be in base.tgz

[Alan Barrett <apb%cequrux.com@localhost>]

The following reply was made to PR lib/40346; it has been noted by GNATS.

From: Alan Barrett <apb%cequrux.com@localhost>
To: gnats-bugs%NetBSD.org@localhost
Cc: 
Subject: Re: lib/40346: libexpat should be in base.tgz
Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2009 12:36:19 +0200

 On Sat, 24 Jan 2009, David Holland wrote:
 >  On Sat, Jan 24, 2009 at 10:15:03AM +0000, Alan Barrett wrote:
 >   >  Yes, there really should be a way to have apache work on a server that
 >   >  does not have any X11 installation at all.  I hope that an apache binary
 >   >  package built without X11_TYPE=native will correctly depend on an expat
 >   >  package.
 
 BTW, my apache package built with X11_TYPE=modular does depend on an
 expat package, so at least part of this is working.
 
 >   >  However, if you install somebody else's binary packages that were built
 >   >  with X11_TYPE=native, then it seems pretty obvious and unsurprising
 >   >  that the packages won't work if you don't actually have a native X11
 >   >  environment.  Don't install other people's binary packages if you don't
 >   >  have a compatible system.
 >  
 >  This logic is somewhat flawed, because (1) apache doesn't use X11 and
 >  so the setting of X11_TYPE shouldn't be meaningful, and (2) you can't
 >  set X11_TYPE to "none" anyway.
 
 Yes, the setting of X11_TYPE *shouldn't* be meaningful for apache, but
 I got the impression from the PR that it *is* meaningful.
 
 Having now looked more carefully at the pkgsrc makefiles, I suspect that
 the problem was that the apache binary package was built on a system
 where IS_BUILTIN.expat was true, but was installed on a system without
 expat.  That won't work, and fixing it may require changes in the way
 binary packages deal with prerequisites that may or may not be "built
 in" to the host system.
 
 >  FWIW, I think if we're going to carry expat around anyway we may as
 >  well have it in base.
 
 I think that adding expat to base should have a beter reason than
 "there's something wrong in the way pkgsrc builds apache, and this is
 the quickest workaround we can think of".
 
 --apb (Alan Barrett)