Hmmm... How is placing a useful library in a standard location like
/usr/local/lib "pollution?"
The problem is when a useful library gets clobbered. I hate
installers that clobber
tar with gnu tar, or that clobber Apple's gcc with some newer version
that doesn't
implement objective-C correctly.
It has to be put somewhere, and although it does make it easier to
automate their maintenance if they are segregated into Frameworks,
having this great Apple scheme to put libraries in unusual paths with
unusual compiler flags to access them is a bother to people who just
want to port to OS X codes that already run on Unix. There is no One
Great True Path for installing libraries, IMHO.
On an OS X system, installers should respect the OS X way of doing
things!
Installers that dump their stuff in /usr/local are just as bad as OS-9
type
installers that dump their stuff all over the file tree and system
folders.
Both methods have good and bad to them. Apple's history is littered
with ideas that are good on paper but which become a big hassle
because nobody outside of Apple buys into them. One of the great
things about Apple now is its BSD underpinnings. Each Unix has its
quirks, but OS X should not be the first to try to do away with
/usr/local!
The human interface guidelines have worked well. Not all apps adhere
to them, but
most do. And most Mac users appreciate apps that follow the standards.
The only way for Apple to win this battle is to make it easy to do it
the "right" way and the "wrong" way at the same time.
Sure users can set up their path however they want... they can decide
their own 'right' way
of doing things.
Developers on the the other hand should follow the standards set by
Apple for OS X machines
and not try to make a decision on some other way being better.
Installers that don't respect
the standards lead to the dll-hell that plagues other OS's.
X Is Not Unix.... XINU :)
-Nathan
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