[ale] Battling Distros and unwrapped '#include's

[John Mills]

Geoffrey -

On Wed, 30 Apr 2008, Geoffrey wrote:

> Dare I suggest that you formalize your specs so that you develop on the
> one target distro?  I suspect this won't be the last problem you run
> into regarding different distros.

You have a point, but I think there's a counterpoint as well. I am more 
comfortable with diverse development environments so we solve problems 
like this one at a time. Otherwise we can coast along until we are forced 
to change work settings, then be blind-sided with a lot of problems to fix 
at once.

> Unless, of course, the application is designed to run on multiple distros..

These products have their own run-time environments (eCos or embedded 
Linux) that we try to hold fixed. We also try to share code between them - 
sometimes easy, sometimes not. It's a matter of preferences and secondary 
factors among the developers. But as I say, I see some [secondary] value 
in the process.

Other products run in full PC GNU/Linux environment. For those, we do 
standardize the Linux environment to the extent of delivering a full 
installation CD with OS, libs and apps. Here we have been through some 
extensive rework when the Linux kernel changed. No magic bullet: you just 
choose when to jump and hope the alligators are drowsy!

Thanks for the comments.

  - Mills