On Fri, 11 Nov 2011, Oliver Kullmann wrote:
> I do not use binaries for various reasons (taking them altogether):
> 1. All we are doing is going to be redistributed, and we want to provide
> a complete and (nearly) automated build.
> 2. It seems to me essential for the spirit of open-source to be able to
> build from sources (what is the source-code good for otherwise?).
> 3. I do not trust a system without the sources (working sources that is).
> 4. I do not trust the quality of a system which can not be built from
> sources (I think one should make an effort like Sage, or actually also
> our "library", to provide everything that it needed in a "standard Linux
> environment").
I completely agree with your points. This is why I am a Gentoo Linux
developer.
Gentoo has sbcl (as well as cmucl, ccl, ecl, clisp). The approach taken by
the sbcl ebuild is:
1. Download the appropriate sbcl binary;
2. Compile the sbcl source with it;
3. Throw away the downloaded binary, and use the locally compiled one.
I don't think this disqualifies sbcl. I don't use binaries which I have
not compiled locally, on my computer. And sbcl (and hence sbcl-maxima)
don't violate this principle.
Andrey