[GRASS-dev] CLI!=GUI

[Glynn Clements]

Paolo Cavallini wrote:

> > Like Martin said, because GRASS is modular, anyone can compile it or use it with
> > or without the GUI. I use it heavily with the GUI for some things. For others, I
> > use it completely scripted, without any GUI, and called from a completely
> > different environment. This kind of flexibility is a real value for this piece of
> > software.
> 
> AFAIK this is not true: compiling (better: packaging - believe it or not, not
> *anyone* is capable of compiling) without the GUI requires changes
> in the source code.

Such as?

> Sorry to insist, I realize my position is not popular among GRASS devs, but there is
> a number of situations where having a pure CLI package would bring great advantages.
> E.g., does anybody want to install libwxgtk2.8-0 on a server, where GRASS can be used
> for WPS?

If you don't want to install wxWidgets, don't install it. The only
part of GRASS which requires it is the GUI. The rest of GRASS will
work fine without it.

If the only available packages (RPM, .deb, etc) insist upon installing
GUI libraries, complain to the people who make the packages.

The only binaries (executables and libraries) which have a dependency
upon a GUI library are those which simply cannot function without one:
NVIZ, xganim, the OGSF library, etc.

[This isn't necessarily true in 7.0; if you build --with-cairo and
cairo has X support enabled, then the display library will have X as a
direct dependency.]

-- 
Glynn Clements <glynn at gclements.plus.com>