From: nospam@needed.invalid   
      
   On Tue, 7/8/2025 5:40 PM, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:   
   > On Tue, 8 Jul 2025 02:05:06 -0400, Paul wrote:   
   >   
   >> Todays dev, is a careless son of a bitch.   
   >   
   > This is why build scripts have dependency checks in them. All the good   
   > build systems (Autotools, CMake etc) offer elaborate mechanisms for   
   > performing these checks.   
   >   
      
   I could tell you about one project I attempted to build.   
   It was a project that used some NVidia SDK libraries   
   for the build. The build got half way along, and an error   
   message said "Version mismatch". That's it. That's the context.   
   You don't report "Version Mismatch, executable ABC wants version 10   
   of SDK, SDK provided is version 9". No contextual helpful hint at   
   all, as to what the things are where the versions don't match.   
      
   By giving the builder no hint at all, what the two word error message   
   means, am I supposed to systematically download one 2GB kit after   
   another and "try them and see if the problem goes away". Well,   
   fuck you and the chuck wagon you rode in on.   
      
   A person in the old days, would realize an error message was   
   required, and they would say to themselves "if *I* was building   
   the package, what information would I appreciate getting   
   to resolve the issue". And the error message content is   
   tuned for the context of the situation.   
      
   I've built plenty of stuff over the years. We had to at work, because   
   we were on Unix boxes and no software was provided. (Yes, we had   
   expensive CAD software, but there were no creature comforts at all.)   
   For example, there was no web browser at the time. That's why,   
   on one occasion, I spent 40 hours building NCSA Mosaic... when I had   
   no build tree and I had to start from scratch. That was a domino   
   build, where I had to make myself a libjpeg, a libtiff, I had to   
   invent the oxygen I was breathing. And that is why it took all week.   
   It worked. But, the IT department was watching me (they watched   
   everybody, with regard to downloads), and I got a phone call to   
   "delete that browser -- license violation" that did not allow   
   NCSA Mosaic to be used in a commercial setting.   
      
   So I and my crew, went back to using Lynx, like always.   
   Can you imagine trying to do electrical engineering design,   
   using Lynx to look up datasheets for electronic parts ? It's   
   an experience   
      
   And this is why we build.   
      
   Because we have nothing.   
      
      Paul   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)