On Wed, 22 Sep 2004, Sherm Pendley wrote: > On Sep 22, 2004, at 4:13 PM, Chris Devers wrote: > > > If you really want to prove to yourself how much rounder your wheel will > > be, then yes, use the Unix instructions. > > Or, if you want to see how that wheel got so round. I'm all for > self-improvement! My only concern in this particular instance is that Mark > says it his first module install. Image::Magick might be a little too hairy > for a first attempt.
...and that is precisely why I'm urging him to cheat & use Fink. Something smaller, then fine, build it by hand, but this is an awful module to learn with... > The CPAN shell helps a great deal for those modules that don't need > special configuration options, environment variables, etc. Some > modules *do* need such things though, so it's important to familiarize > yourself with the manual process, even if you use the automated shell > 99% of the time. No argument here. I just think we're at a point that the automated tools like Fink and the CPAN shell are good enough that the "average" learner should turn to them first -- if only to get started far more quickly with the much more interesting task of writing new software -- and then come back and play with installing things by hand later. It's good to know how the build process works, and how to tweak it, but it can also be a very frustrating time sink, and it wouldn't surprise me at all if it was enough to scare away new learners. -- Chris Devers
