Pier Fumagalli <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> As I said before... I believe that something can be done from here in old
> Europe to fix the problem.... Like distributing SSL binaries and stuff from
> here... Ok, they won't be on "www.apache.org", but....
I like that idea... I also am frustrated with the current binbuild
situation... Some users are not able to build themselves for various
reasons but our binbuilds, at least for Unix, present some problems.
Because there is no stable set of machines to do them on, the system
software levels vary and the dependencies of Apache change
accordingly, even within the same OS version.
I can't install OS updates on my AIX 4.3.3 box to run with the most
recent java levels if I want to do Apache 1.3 or 2.0 binbuilds which
will run on a lot of AIX machines. (but the dirty deed is already
done :( )
I can't install Solaris 8 from a recent enough CD-ROM set that has
sendfile if I want to do Apache 2.0 binbuilds which are usable by the
general Solaris 8 user community (you can't even download
sendfile+prerequisites without a maintenance contract last time I
tried).
Heck, even with Win32 there aren't many people who can do binbuilds,
and that is particularly bad when a security fix is announced and
everybody looks for the same one person.
If there were money ("thanks for downloading the latest Apache binary
distribution for your platform; would you care to contribute a few
euros towards the generation and availability of what you just
downloaded?"), it would be possible to maintain a set of machines
running the appropriate set of system software to enable binbuilds to
be reliably built for the largest possible audience.
If a loosely affiliated group ("unencumbered friends of Apache") could
accept contributions and maintain a rich set of binbuilds of Apache
with/without SSL support, a lot of users would be happier and a lot of
PRs could be closed with less hair turning gray but without breaking
the user ("I'm sorry you are encountering this particular build SNAFU.
It works fine for a number of people on that platform. There is a
trusted binary build for your platform available from
www.xxxxxx.org.").
More than what you were interested I'm sure, but there are other
frustrating aspects of binbuilds than just the encryption issue.
--
Jeff Trawick | [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Born in Roswell... married an alien...
