Linux Compat & WINE on default install

[Charles]

I was wondering what you think about having the Linux Compat and WINE set up during the default installation. I think PC-BSD is a desktop-oriented OS, and early or late there are applications that need either WINE or the Linux Compat (maybe I'm mistaken).

[pcbsdusr]

if kris can remove more "useless" stuff in order to place this... it's fine for me :)

[popey]

Both, but not yet. Wine is still very much in development.

[pcbsdusr]

but the Linux compat should be moved asap

[sblevin]

I think it's a very fine line as to what goes into the base release. Wine is hopefully comming out of alpha real soon, and hopefully will also start to settle down, but as yet it is still a collection of releases that have individual strengths and weaknesses, and so should be left to the individual to install (for now).

Linux compat is very stable, but once again, what about the different versions of it? I've been using the redhat 8 compat and found it to be good, but what about the RH 9 or Suse versions? Still, compat is very functional, and to me is a base service that should be included.

I can understand Kris's desire to keep the base install as "pure" as possible, but some services are just impractical to include as dependencies in PBI files. An OS needs to get hard and long term about the services it supports and ones it does not, so developers can get a clear look into the future - the version of KDE supplied, the version of X supplied, and the version of perl are good examples of that. I'd like to think that compat is in those group of "extras" that supply base level functionality.

I believe that Wine will make it to that group as well, but not for a while yet.