Packages Not [was Re: ambivalence about fortran (was Re: numpy & non-Apple gcc?)]

[Takeshi Enomoto]

Hi,

I did not imagine my message ignited such a lively discussions.

> The original topic was about time to build packages.

Yes, scitech users around me would be happy to have binary packages.

I feel, however, think differently.

Those who prefer binaries could use Fink or Homebrew.
To me MacPorts is an aid to build open source software.
It is better than free format instructions and binary packages that
could be inconsistent with others.
Even with consistent binaries it would not be easy to provide
every possible combination of variants.

If Apple provided gfortran along with gcc-4.2 there would be a much problem
for scitech apps.
Since Apple does not provide it, we would like to do so.
It would make life much easier if gcc44 dmg is provided
to complement MacPorts' dmg or Xcode.

If everyone is heading toward providing binary packages,
I don't stop it since users would love them.
I will probably keep compiling most of the ports.

Takeshi