coapp-developers team mailing list archive

[Trent Nelson <trent@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I vaguely recall a brief discussion about -dev derivatives of open 
source packages during the event, i.e. python-2.6.1.1-dev.  I think the 
consensus was that they weren't required, with -src packages being 
preferable.

I had a bit of a think about it, and I think there's a huge market for 
providing -dev packages to address the following developer-oriented use 
cases (using Python as an example):

a) I'm a user that wants to build Python from source and hack around 
with it, potentially to resubmit patches back to Python (so a read-only 
checkout of the underlying source tree from SCM repo would be useful).

b) I'm a Python developer that wants the arduous process of setting up 
my development environment from scratch done for me.

c) I'm the Release Manager for 2.6.x, so I'll have similar requirements 
to the developer above, but will need to have extra stuff set up that 
allows me to build official releases.

d) I want to set up a buildbot (currently a pain to do from scratch with 
Python on Windows, lots of fiddling -- and technically, a buildbot has 
the exact same 'development environment requirements' as a user or 
developer).

There's definitely still a need for -src packages (the -dev packages 
will depend on the -src packages, in most cases, unless the source is 
being checked out from a repo).  At the very least, -src packages allow 
you to 'Attach Source' when interactively debugging, without the need 
for a full blown development environment.

The reason I think a -dev package will be useful is it will replace the 
'src/README.txt|README.win32'-type files that typically document how 
you're meant to get your dev env set up in order to build from source, 
as well as providing projects with a single supported dev env setup on 
Windows (huge plus).