The fortran package in Sage is 33 MB in size. It contains a binary fortran
compiler for OS X only. So users of Linux, Solaris and those porting to other
platforms are downloading 33 MB of totally useless code.
Given the size and the fact it's only needed on one platform, would it not be
more sensible if this was downloaded only if needed? Every time I download a new
alpha to test, I'm downloading 33 MB of unnecessary code. I expect many people
that run OS X also download it unnecessarily, since many will have fortran
compilers anyway.
A list of binaries for gfortran can be found at
http://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/GFortranBinaries#MacOS
I can't think of any other open-source application I've come across where I
download a binary of the compiler every time I download the code.
There are a few packages that are not needed on all platforms (cephes, iconv are
two I can think of), but neither of those are particularly large, so are less of
an issue.
Dave
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