Re: [Groff] Tiny make patch: avoid Netpbm dependency

[Peter Schaffter]

On Wed, Mar 12, 2014, Ingo Schwarze wrote:
> Really?  Why would somebody ever want to build a piece of software
> without the documentation belonging to it?  Documentation is an
> integral part of software, and without the proper documentation,
> almost any software is next to useless.

If you already have a groff installation that includes
documentation, say from a distro, and want to build a local version
for testing only, building without documentation might be desirable.
 
> That said, wouldn't such an option further bloat the groff build
> system, for no gain at all?  If we are touching the build system,
> i'd recommend to simplify it, possibly *removing* useless options
> and complications, but not adding yet more complications...

The build system's baroque, but it does its job and is relatively
easy to maintain.  Werner's appreciation for autotools aside,
ditto ./configure.  If we touch the build system, it needs to be
for compelling reasons, and demonstrably simplify both builds and
maintainability.
 
> > Really?  Hm, i'll give that a try in the upcoming days and report
> > back.
> 
> What?  Why would you waste your time on that?  What's the gain?

See my first para.  Let's look at the proposed patch before
dispensing with the idea out of hand.

-- 
Peter Schaffter
http://www.schaffter.ca