Re: [Groff] CVS Build Problem

[Keith Marshall]

On Tuesday 26 April 2005 10:19 am, Jim Reid wrote:
> >> BSD/OS 4.2.
> >
> > Ahhh.  IIRC, Jim Reid had a similar problem a few months ago, also on
> > BSD.
> > Don't know what version he was using, or if he ever found a solution
> >
> > :-(
>
> It was BSD/OS 4.2 too. I never found the time to get to the bottom of
> the problem and abandoned updating groff on that box. Somebody changed
> groff's build/install stuff to make it more Linux-specific, breaking
> backwards compatibility with the installed base. Making sense of Linux
> cruft and comparing that to what was done in earlier groff releases
> made my head hurt, so I gave up in disgust.

I'm almost sorry I bothered to mention Jim Reid at all; I had forgotten what 
an irascible character he is, and I felt rather disinclined to even grace 
this drivel with a response.

I very much doubt if anyone changed groff's build/install procedure with any 
intent to make it in any way Linux specific; it is, in fact, one of the most 
platform agnostic packages I know of.  In the overall scheme of things, my 
own contributions are fairly minimal, but I always test my submissions on 
GNU/Linux, Win32 with MinGW, Win32 with Cygwin and SunOS 5.5.1, before 
posting patches.  I would test on other platforms too, if I had access to 
them, and unlimited time to spare (I wish).

If there is a problem with BSD/OS 4.2, it isn't because of any effort to make 
groff Linux specific; its simply down to a shortage of developers testing on 
the BSD platform.  Groff is free software, Jim.  It comes without any 
warranty of any kind, including suitability for any particular purpose.  If 
it doesn't work for you, you are free to modify it so that it does.  Instead 
of just complaining, why not fix the problem, and contribute something 
constructive? Fortunately for BSD/OS 4.2, Larry Jones is pitching in with 
just this constructive attitude, and I am sure that the groff community are 
grateful to him for his effort.

Regards,
Keith.