RE: installing jakarta code Was: using commons components and log ging

[Martin Cooper <ma...@tumbleweed.com>]

> -----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:   
<ma...@jakarta.apache.org>
For additional commands, e-mail:
<ma...@jakarta.apache.org>



--
To unsubscribe, e-mail:   <ma...@jakarta.apache.org>
For additional commands, e-mail: <ma...@jakarta.apache.org>