FEATURE: Simpler ThirdParty packages selection mechanism. Author: Martin Beaudoin...

FEATURE: Simpler ThirdParty packages selection mechanism. Author: Martin Beaudoin. Merge: Henrik Rusche.

I am proposing an improved ThirdParty packages selection mechanism based on a set of package-specific, pre-defined environment variables.

Using those environment variables, one can control the selection of the full list of ThirdParty packages he/she want to compile/use by simply editing the etc/prefs.sh or etc/prefs.csh file.

Using this new approach, you will no longer have to edit the ThirdParty/AllMake.stageXXX files or the etc/settings.[sh,csh] to suit your needs; every supported package is selectable from a single environment variable specified in your prefs.[sh,csh] file, or in one of your script file.

Another benefit from this improvement will also come from supplying a set of predefined prefs.[sh,csh]-EXAMPLE files for both generic or specialized configurations and/or for specific Operating Systems. For example:

prefs.sh-EXAMPLE-Centos-7
prefs.sh-EXAMPLE-Ubuntu-14.02
prefs.sh-EXAMPLE-MacOSX_Yosemite_without_MacPorts
prefs.sh-EXAMPLE-RaspberryPi2

I also took the liberty of bumping many ThirdParty packages to the latest version available.