[Rule-list] Xfree and MESA

[Geoff Burling]

On Fri, 19 Apr 2002, Marco Fioretti wrote:

> Geoff wrote:
>
> > After I completed the slinky-0.1.9a install, I attempted to install XFree
> > in order to build a AfterStep rpm on a RULE system. In doing so, I learned
> > that X is a *very* large application, & expects a number of packages that
> > are not always obviously related, viz.:
> >
I just remembered Harry Larry's own description of installing X, which he
recorded on his Wiki site. Mergingthe packages he mentions to mine, this
becomes the list of rpms needed to install X:

perl
freetype
XFree86-libs
XFree86-xfs
chkfontpath
XFree86-75dpi-fonts
Xaw3d
Mesa

As I stated before, it would be nice to remove perl, but it's used in the
source code for XFree86-4.1.0, & ends up getting added with the network
package.

Chkfontpath is a small & odd package. According to RH's documentation, it
does about the same thing the kpathsea libraries do (which help manage
font files), & end up being installed anyway if the user works with LaTeX,
postscript, or dvi files. Since it's only half a MB, we can ignore it.

Xaw3d, freetype & Mesa are another cases entirely. Since we're agreed on
Mesa, let me focus on the first two. Yes, Xaw3d & freetype improve the
look of any GUI, but RH requires freetype to be installed, & doesn't
complain if we forget XFree86-*-fonts; Xaw3d is also required, even though
one could make do with the default Athena look -- or do as I do, & substitute
the NeXtaw toolkit. (Which is being maintained.)

After this point, this is what Xconfigurator requires:

gtk+
libjpeg
libpng
libtiff
gdk-pixbuf
XFree86-compat-modules (from disk2)
XFree86-SVGA (from disk2)

A lot of packages for a progam most users will only see two or three times,
neh?

> >
> > In short, it's the kind of feature bloat I feel RULE should be fighting,
> > if I understand the charter of the group.
> >
>
> You understood it perfectly, Geoff!
>
> w.r.t this particular case, I too am a bit surprised by X depending on
> Perl, but since if you install X is to have a Unix *desktop*, and
> since on such objects Perl is always used anyway, it's harmless.
>
> OTOH, MESA is certainly something to leave out for the reasons you
> mention, unless it does break Red Hat and/or so many rpm level things
> that upgrades become a nightmare.
>
> A couple of questions to help us to decide:
>
> 1) how much disk/ram would we save? (writing from solaris, can't check.)
>    (don't answer (only) here: add data to the rule app database
>     too, PLEASE!
>
> 2) Is MESA really needed? In other words, is it required because:
>
> 	a) the RH default X *binaries* will actually crash and burn your
>            house if MESA files aren't there, or
>
> 	b) Something will generate a ton of complaints but 2-D X will
>            run anyway?
>
And #3:

What other packages are needed to get our WM of choice up & running?

I've just finished a smoke test to see what 4 different WMs require for
installation. (fvwm, twm & WindowMaker are on the RH 7.2 disks; for AfterStep
I used a downloaded rpm.) Here are the results for further discussion:

twm: installs with no other packages needed.

fvwm2: requires fvw2-icons

Windowmaker: requires libPropList
                      cpp
                      libjpeg
                      libpng
                      libtiff
                      libungif
                      WindowMaker-libs

AfterStep: requires libjpeg
                    libpng

(For the record, I also did some smoke installs of rvxt-2.7.4 & aterm-0.4.0
from rpm packages. No requirements beyond installing XFree-4.1.0.)

Now I notice Marco standing to one side, looking sternly as to insist that
I enter all of this in the database. Will do shortly, mon capitaine!

Geoff



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