On Tue, 13 Dec 2005 19:07:45 -0800, Daevid Vincent wrote:

> CPUs are fast, but the programs are still monolithic and take days to
> compile.

Why do you think the larger packages are moving to a modular structure?
This thread is about KDE, and while the monolithic packages are sytill
available, the split ebuilds are the preferred choice. 

> I fully agree (and have brought this up before months and years ago) --
> I believe we should have binaries available for the big packages like
> KDE, OO, Gnome, etc.

They are. OOo has always been available as a binary (only as a binary on
some platforms) and other packages are on the GRP discs, where the
dependencies issue Richard mentioned doesn't apply, since they are tied
to a particular Stage 3 install. The compile times are only really an
issue for initial installation, where Stage 3 + GRP brings the total time
down to around an hour. Once your desktop is running, you can continue
to use it while compiling updates.

> Ya'll that like to waste your time compiling can
> keep on doing that, while the rest of us would like to get some work
> done.

There's this thing called multitasking, where you computer lets you use
it while processing other tasks in the background. It is ideally suited
to this.

> And for you all that want to say -- "switch Distros", your logic is
> flawed. Just because I don't want to waste 3 days or more compiling KDE
> on a 2Ghz/640MB notebook,

I'd take your notebook back to the shop. My 1GHz G4 iBook with similar RAM
updated KDE to 3.5 in around 12 hours, most of which was overnight.

> doesn't mean I don't want the other benefits
> of Gentoo, like "emerge -u world" and the fact that when I do need to
> install from source (like something that isn't in portage), it usually
> just compiles fine. RedHat 8 NEVER worked that way for me.

Because Red Hat uses binary packages, which raises incompatibilities. It
is easy to install non-portage packages from source because everything
else is also compiled from source.

If you really want current packages compiled on someone else's computer,
they are already available and the URI was posted to this thread last
week.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

In a classified ad: "Tired of cleaning yourself? Let me do it."