> -----Original Message----- > From: Steven Caswell [mailto:steven@;caswell.name] > Sent: Friday, November 08, 2002 3:11 PM > To: 'Henri Yandell' > Cc: Jakarta Commons Developers List > Subject: RE: installing jakarta code Was: using commons components and > logging > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Henri Yandell [mailto:bayard@;generationjava.com] > > Sent: Friday, November 08, 2002 5:04 PM > > To: Steven Caswell > > Cc: 'Henri Yandell' > > Subject: RE: installing jakarta code Was: using commons > > components and logging > > > > > > > > > > On Fri, 8 Nov 2002, Steven Caswell wrote: > > > > > Confused the user how? > > > > > > I guess I don't understand how using a library like lang > can cause > > > heartburn for a project like Collections. I've never had > a problem > > > adding another jar to the classpath. Seems to me that the "user" > > > (which, we should keep in mind, are supposedly intelligent > > developers) > > > should easily understand an additional dependency. As > long as it is > > > documented in a clear manner. > > > > Maybe that's the nub. Without really sitting down with users > > to find out why they didn't install XXX library, it's hard to > > tell. But I can quite happily goto the Jakarta front page, > > click on a news item or click on Binary Releases, and > > download the zip without realising. > > That is a good point. I've had on blinders thinking more along > the lines of the initial installation of a project, but your point > About getting a later release is well taken. Unless I explicitly look > at the docs, I may miss an important dependency. And today Maven > doesn't really help this situation.
I think a *big* help to users would be simply stating the dependencies for each component on the corresponding download page, in a README.html file. That will show up right below the links for downloading. Simple, and the user is bound to see it. If you're not familiar with this, take a look here: http://jakarta.apache.org/builds/jakarta-struts/release/v1.1-b2/ The text below the file list comes from a README.html file in the same directory. -- Martin Cooper > > > > > Especially as I expect to have an INSTALL.txt or README.txt > > [or html] which tells me what I need. We tend to put it on > > the website, which a lot of people probably don't bother to check. > > > > So, maybe Maven could be generating out an INSTALL.txt as > > part of its build or some such. Or maybe the current download > > method of using the default Apache directory is wrong, we > > need a lot of index.html's throughout the build/ directory. > > Could get real messy. > > > > > Or we have an xml file in the releases directory called > > requires.xml which an Apache module reads, shows a custom > > Apache directory-page to remind people where to go to get the > > requirements. > > > > I like that idea, it's not java, but neither is Jakarta's > > site. What do you think? [Maven can still generate this xml > > file out as part of the build] > > > > I think this would be a reasonable short-term solution. I'd really > Like to see things move toward a neutral (i.e., > project-comprehension-tool-agnostic) > xml description of dependencies that could be used by Maven > or whatever > to > Figure out what else needs to be gotten and go get it. > > > Hen > > > > > > > > -- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: <mailto:commons-dev-unsubscribe@;jakarta.apache.org> For additional commands, e-mail: <mailto:commons-dev-help@;jakarta.apache.org> -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: <mailto:commons-dev-unsubscribe@;jakarta.apache.org> For additional commands, e-mail: <mailto:commons-dev-help@;jakarta.apache.org>
