On Thu, 2005-06-30 at 11:50 +0200, Ceki Gülcü wrote: > > At 12:00 AM 6/30/2005, robert burrell donkin wrote: > >anyone strongly object to me making the dependency on the servlet api > >optional (by altering the build script)? > > There are both advantages and disadvantages to each approach. > > Making parts of the build optional makes it easier for newcomers to build > your system.
Yes and no I think. If they are all mandatory then the build instructions are: * download them all * build Otherwise the instructions are: * download the bits you want (including docs we have to write and the user has to read about why they might or might not want different bits) * build > Requiring all dependencies to be present before building ensures that the > outcome of the build process is complete. However, it makes it harder for > newcomers to build your system, even when a partial build could have met > the newcomer's needs. In the old days, finding the necessary bits was indeed a nuisance. But today we can just provide a URL to ibiblio and say "download the necessary bits". Or we can even provide an Ant task that does that automatically; I've used this with great success before. Regards, Simon --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
