Re: emacs and osx

["Rogério Brito" <rbrito@ime.usp.br>]

Jochem Huhmann wrote:
> Exactly. Get the latest Emacs from the CVS, configure, make, install,
>  enjoy. It just works. This posting is written with a Emacs running 
> on Mac OS X, along with Carbon-GUI, anti-aliased fonts and 
> everything, compiled straight from the sources.

Humm, that's a pain in the arse, especially with slower machines lower
on RAM. :-( BTW, would it at least run in many versions of MacOS X (say,
10.1, 10.2 etc) if compiled with a current toolchain?

> BTW: All this chaos is not limited to Emacs. Look for almost any Open
>  Source app and you will find at least two or three different "ports"
>  to OS X floating around the net.

Indeed. Point well made.

> There is Fink, darwinports and then individual (binary) packages done
>  by well-meaning people.

Honestly, I don't know why fink didn't try to merge its efforts with
Debian (or copy them, for that matter).

You get that hybrid system where one can install some binary
packages, but, OTOH, the user has to compile many other packages from
source (and you'd at least expect the maintainers of the packages to
compile their own packages at least once before putting them available
at their site -- this could save the users the problems of installing
developer toolkits, expensive compilation of larger programs (like
Emacs) etc).

And that's not to mention that you don't have (at least the last time I
checked) things like Debian's menu infra-structure for installed
packages appearing in your window manager of choice, changelogs in the
packages' documentations (to see what changed and if things would affect
your workflow etc).

> Ever installed a LaTeX system on OS X? I've been going through this 
> just yesterday and I can tell you, this is a hell of a mess.

Indeed. There are many versions (Gerben Wierda's, Fink's etc) and (at
least Fink's) is not what I'd call "mature".


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