On Oct 27, 2021, at 12:37 PM, Daniel Ruoso <daniel_at_ruoso.com<mailto:daniel_at_[hidden]>> wrote:

On Wed, Oct 27, 2021, 13:31 Gamblin, Todd <gamblin2_at_[hidden]<mailto:gamblin2_at_[hidden]>> wrote:
IIn many cases that may include programs that need to be exec’d either by the client code or by the package, at build or runtime.

That's an interesting point. I guess the question is how far does it make sense to go.

If you think about code generators, their usage ends up being tightly coupled with the build system, but I can definitely see how it would be helpful for the package manager to be able to tell to the build system where the executables are.

 Similarly there are libraries out there that aren’t usable without associated data.

Timezone data or ca-certificates comes to mind from your example.

I think that's an interesting point too.

The other one that comes up frequently in our physics apps is stuff like interpolation tables, e.g., for equation of state data. Sometimes it’s stored in the package prefix, sometimes it’s expected to be configured from someplace else (maybe a protected place to limit users) in the filesystem.

-Todd