[Bioperl-l] External dependencies [was Bio::DB::WebDBSeqI]

[Todd Richmond]

On 12/12/00 12:01 PM, "Hilmar Lapp" <hlapp@gmx.net> wrote:

> A general question to people on the list: what is your general feeling
> about the number of external dependencies? Do you feel fine with a
> growing number, or does it scare you, do you think it might
> significantly heighten the barrier to using the package, or is it just
> normal for you that installing one package means installing another ten.

Speaking as someone who uses the bioperl package on a Mac - every external
dependency you add is one more thing that's likely to break for me. Anything
that has to be compiled is especially bad unless binaries are made
available, since most Mac users don't have a compiler handy (and even if
they do it's not as simple as "make"). Hopefully most of these concerns will
go away with OSX, but they are definitely a concern right now.

-- 
Dr Todd Richmond                 http://cellwall.stanford.edu/todd
Carnegie Institution             email: todd@andrew2.stanford.edu
Department of Plant Biology      fax: 1-650-325-6857
260 Panama Street                phone: 1-650-325-1521 x431
Stanford, CA 94305