[BRLTTY] screen patched

[Cheryl Homiak]

On Sep 15, 2014, at 3:44 PM, Bram Duvigneau <bram at bramd.nl> wrote:

> It might be better, easier and more useful to put this in a Homebrew
> formula. Homebrew seems the leading package manager on OS X today and I
> know where things end up (e.g. /usr/local).
> Furthermore I can inspect such a formula and verify it gets screen from
> a place I trust (an official GNU site or mirror) and inspect the patch
> so I know what it changes. Then you can provide the patch and you don't
> have to explain every time how people should invoke the patch command.
> 
> I built a Brltty formula a while ago which allows you to get the release
> or the latest development code. I never commited that to Homebrew due to
> some small problems including the Screen dependency and some configure
> errors with the release back then. I might dust that formula of if there
> is interest.
> 
> Bram
> 
It's encouraging to know that people are working on brltty for the Mac in various ways!

Many people don't use homebrew and many people don't use macports. sSome don't use either. It's actually I think possible to install brltty and screen without either. The thing is: neither /opt/local or /usr/local are there by default on the Mac so I'm not sure about having a patch that requires them or puts them in. We have to remember too that if we put paths in that aren't there by default we also have to add toour paths for them to be found without typing the whole path. It is true, though, that if we install where there isn't anything directly involved on the Mac, we don't run any risk of doing something to our Mac systems. But it's also true that when you have to reinstall, often the reinstall gets rid of directories that aren't part of its system. So there are pros and cons whatever you do. I think I do agree that it's best not to do something that will change our Mac system itself as in replacing or changing files, but I alsothink it wouldn't be good tomake a program dependent on a particular outside package, such as homebrew or macports, on purpose unless we clearly state in the brltty docs that this other system is necessary or recommended for installing brltty.

Now if it was possible to install brltty completely by downloading a port from Macports or installing through homebrew or fink if that is still being done (I used to have fink but haven't for quite a while), then that would be a nice alternative, but even then, people should still be able to install from source without having to have an extra program if they are willing to do the work to compile separately what will be needed.

I know I sound like I'm arguing on both sides of this question, and I kind of him, but what I think I am saying is: anything that will help people to use brltty is great, including having it available through other management systems, but we don't want to make it a prerequisite that people must install one of those systems to have brltty. It's probably better not to directly make changes to Mac system files because when there is an upgrade from the Mac OS end, these will be changed again, but if we are going to install and use something like /opt/local or /usr/local we need to be aware of the path changes that need to be made to do that.

Also, if there is anybody who has the time, expertise and interest in signing up as a Mac developer and seeing if anything can be done to get brltty to work on the Mac in general, without screen and outside of terminal, I think there would be quite a bit of interest in this. While I appreciate Apple's efforts to build braille support into voiceover, my reading on Mac lists tell me that there is plenty of improvement needed and many people would be eager to try a braille program that isn't linked to voiceover.

  
 
-- 
Cheryl

I tried and tried to turn over a new leaf.
I got crumpled wads of tear-stained paper
thrown in the trash!
Then God gave me a new heart and life:
His joy for my despairing tears!
And now, every day:
"This I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
The steadfast love of the Lord
never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness."
(Lamentations 3:21-23 ESV)