Re: [gentoo-user] Firefox

[Holly Bostick <motub@planet.nl>]

Daniel D Jones schreef:
> On Saturday 04 February 2006 11:37, Holly Bostick wrote:
> 
>> If an ebuild doesn't say it's compiling from CVS, it isn't. And of 
>> course, you can always just open it in a text editor and /look/...
>> 
> 
> I'm still learning how Portage works.  I wasn't aware that ebuilds 
> were that straightforward.

Well, in some respects they aren't, insofar as you kinda need to be
familiar with the compilation process of the program under
consideration, on the one hand (for example, the specific dependencies,
and the configuration options for it, which obviously vary from
application to application), and Gentoo conventions on the other hand
(such as the variables used to specify things like version number and
install directory and the like).

But in the sense that they are ultimately just scripts, and scripts are
ultimately just text, which are quite understandable if you know the
"language" they're written in, yes, ebuilds are very much "that
straightforward". Certainly straightforward enough even for the
completely untutored to be able to see things like where the source
is being downloaded from (the project site, or a gentoo mirror or
someplace else), and what options the application is being configured
with (or not), and how the USE flags available relate to the configure
options available to the application.

That's what makes Gentoo so cool-- or at least one of the big things-- *I*
can write an ebuild, at need, and I can't code my way out of a paper
bag. A *wet* paper bag. Admittedly, my skills only really reach (at this
time) to modifying existing ebuilds in relatively simple ways (version
bumps and "switching" annoying dependencies to separate-but-equal ones),
but I can learn more via the docs when I want to try something more
complex.  I can even submit modified or new ebuilds on b.g.o for
submission into Portage (and have done, actually).

It's just me (same old me), but I can provide development services even
now, as I am (which is way more than anyone ever 'asked' of me under
previous distros, or under Windows, and certainly more than I ever knew
I was capable of), and I can fairly easily learn enough to do more, if I so
choose, by reading the Development docs on the main site, which will
tell you all you need to know about getting started with ebuilds.

Everybody can really help, in a truly functional way, and that's because
ebuilds *are* in that sense simple enough that they give you a "way in",
if you see what I mean.

Holly
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