I have worked on various ports of libraries/tools on OpenVMS, include fairly large system like Python, MySQL, Webware, MoinMoin,...
When I have had to re-port stuff reasons are:
- complex building procedure, for example extract from tarfile, apply patches, compile, link, build an instalation procedure, etc...
I think it would be nice to have PCSI kit which just install the stuff.
Now I also build LD image which just contains all the necessary material.
- More important, about libraries:
* One of the problem is that you can build libraries using:
. mixed case names or upper case names, this can be hide using a sharable which export both names.
. G_FLOAT or IEEE float
. 32 or 64 bits
. object libraries or shareables.
If you want to port code, mixed case, IEEE with 32 and 64 bits is a good choice.
If you just want to use the libraries inside existing program upper case, G_FLOAT is probably better.
So if you want to cover all cases you will have to provide 8 olb libraries or at least 4 shareables.
And if you provide shareable, it would be important to maintains compatibility with older version which can be sometimes difficult to achieve for some large library.
All the libraries I have packages use IEEE float and in most case provide 32 and 64 bits versions, olb and shareables exporting mixed and upper case names. They are all package as PCSI kit.
So it should be nice to have a repository which show what is provide and in which format.
Also I suspect that a wiki would be interesting.
It should be also interesting to defined a common structures (directories, olb, shareable,...) for all these libraries/tools, this will, I hope, reduce duplicate work and may allow to find some person in charge of maintain the port (usable by others) up to date.
Just my 2 cents...
JFP
