A question about modules - suggestion for convention

[Myron Alexander]

Lutger wrote:
> dsss is meant for this and I still think it fulfills it's purpose 
> nicely. Rather than creating another convention, it is perhaps more 
> effective to discuss what you find lacking in dsss and how to improve on 
> that.
> 
> Keep in mind that dsss already does what you mentioned and a lot more 
> too: install over the net (with automatic dependency installs), 
> documentation generation with candydoc, pre- and post build steps... 
> Only thing it doesn't do is hiding .di files for closed source 
> distribution, but that will require another solution altogether.
> 
> I'm not used to Java style distribution, so I may miss something 
> worthwhile here, but I find the D way not so problematic. It is 
> certainly a lot better than C, and C++ too. This is largely because D 
> has a true module system instead of text replacement, and tools like 
> dsss, rebuild and bud are very good.

Lutger,

I have taken another look at DSSS. When I first looked at it, I was 
sleep deprived so I did miss some things. Now I see that it does 
something like I suggested and is better in the usual use-case but it 
does not cover all the use-cases.

The problem with DSSS is that it ties you to the DSSS repository. Apart 
from the fact that few libraries use it, it is intended, and designed, 
around release libraries.

What about debug libraries? Also, how does it handle versioning, 
specifically unreleased experimental versions that are distributed to a 
few alpha/beta testers? What about libraries that have special build 
conditions? Some example build conditions (outside of portability 
issues): trial versions, lite versions (only core features), modular vs 
monolithic versions, and so on. I'm not saying that DSSS cannot handle 
those cases, I have yet to use it properly so I reserve my judgement, 
but, from the documentation those are not the typical use-case scenarios.

My suggestion complements, rather than replaces, DSSS and could provide 
that middle ground; might even make Gregor's life easier.

If I misunderstand something about DSSS, please correct me.

Best Regards,

Myron.
dprogramming...myron...alexander...com
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