[racket-dev] Racket 6 (git branch release), configure options and dependencies

On 12/01/13 04:00, Matthew Flatt wrote:
> At Sun, 01 Dec 2013 03:31:32 +0100, Juan Francisco Cantero Hurtado wrote:
>> On 11/25/13 05:10, Juan Francisco Cantero Hurtado wrote:
>>> Hi. I'm compiling racket 6 (from the git branch "release") on OpenBSD.
>>>
>>> The configure script includes the options "enable-gracket" and
>>> "enable-docs" but I don't see the gracket binary and the docs installed
>>> after the installation. Someone forgot remove the options or these are
>>> usefull for something?.
>>>
>>> Another question. Racket 5.3 needs gtk, cairo, pango, gtkglext and so
>>> forth. What are the dependencies of racket core now?.
>>>
>>
>> Nobody?
>
> Sorry that I missed your message.

Don't worry!

>
> These `--enable-docs` and `--enable-gracket` options are not as useful
> as before, but I haven't sorted out whether they're completely useless,
> and so they're still there. For example, `--disable-gracket` would
> avoid building the `gracket` helper executable that goes in "lib" ---
> but, then, installing any package with a `gracket`-based executable
> won't work right.
>
> The new way to avoid documentation is to just not install any
> documentation packages (at the Racket level). Similarly, aside from the
> `gracket` helper executable, avoid graphics and GUI dependencies by not
> installing graphics and GUI packages (at the Racket level).

I like a lot the new approach :)

>
>> I'm asking because I would like to add support for more OpenBSD
>> platforms to racket. If I could to compile racket without the
>> dependencies, just with a C compiler, it will help me a lot.
>>
>> I'm not interested in to give support to the GUI on some platforms
>> because probably nobody will run drracket on a headless computer :) .
>> And probably cairo or gtk will have problems on some old platforms, so
>> the package won't compile because doesn't have the dependencies.
>>
>> So, basically I'm asking if racket 6 (and raco pkg) can work correctly
>> without gtk, cairo, pango and others deps. Obviously raco can't generate
>> docs but this isn't important. Any help?.
>
> A minimal Racket build doesn't depend on anything except standard
> tools, like `make` and a compiler, although it will use "libiconv" when
> available, and it will also use a pre-built "libffi" if available (or
> build one, otherwise).
>
> Libraries such as gtk, cairo, and pango are now dependencies of the
> "gui" and "draw" packages. (The `gracket` executable that is put in the
> "lib" directory doesn't depend on them.)
>
> Documentation builds depend on "libsqlite3".
>

Thanks for the help. I'll start the work on the new platforms after of 
the racket 6 release.