README.md is not the place to give a tutorial on building from source

[rrthomas]

It's nice to give a few system-specific non-Go build dependency lists, e.g. yum/apt/brew commands for Fedora/RHEL, Debian/Ubuntu, but explaining how to install XCode is out of scope. Adding detailed instructions simply imposes a maintenance burden. This stuff is easy to find.

One of the joys of go is that go get is so simple, so just document the build deps (minimum version of Go and CUPS, required libraries) and then get on with the project-specific stuff. Even better, put it in scripts so it's right: does Go not have an equivalent of GNU autotools' ability to look for build deps and tell the user what's missing?

[jacobmarble]

On your first point, I agree. I started the wiki recently, plan to clean up README.md soon.

Secondly, go get does, indeed, fetch dependencies on it's own. Things aren't so tidy when you need a C library, however. Hence the stone-aged "here's what to do with distro X". If you want to work on a script to handle this stuff, then be my guest. I don't think Go lends itself well to this, however.

I keep saying this: binaries are coming. Before Friday, I hope. You say "This stuff is easy to find." and for programmers, you're right. For the rest of the world, binaries resolve the need to explain so many details.

[jacobmarble]

https://github.com/google/cups-connector/wiki