Re: [gentoo-dev] rfc: allow -1 for ACCT_USER_ID and ACCT_GROUP_ID in ::gentoo

[Michał Górny]

On Sun, 2021-11-28 at 16:31 -0600, William Hubbs wrote:
> All,
>
> I want to discuss why we ban -1 as the ACCT_USER_ID and ACCT_GROUP_ID setting
> for all acct-user and acct-group packages in ::gentoo.
>
> Here are my thoughts about it.
>
> - As Gordon pointed out, it isn't necessary for us to care about UIDS/GIDS
>   most of the time.
>
> - I realize that our settings are suggestions, but the values we can
>   suggest are not infinite. We have run out once, and it is only a matter of
>   time until we do again.
>
> - If an end user needs to care about the UID/GID, they can easily override
>   the settings in make.conf.
>
> In short, I don't think we should be forcing maintainers to pick a
> specific UID/GID for every package that needs a user/group. Most of the
> time they can set ACCT_USER_ID and ACCT_GROUP_ID to -1.
>
> Thoughts? In particular, I want to hear from folks who disagree with me
> about using -1 in the main tree for most packages.
>

Let me put this bluntly.  Yes, most users don't care.  However:

1) if we don't assign static UIDs/GIDs, the few users who care are gonna
be in hell having to assign them all manually.  Every single one of
them, on every one of their systems.

2) if we do assign static UIDs/GIDs... what's the problem, again? 
Little extra work for a few devs?

-- 
Best regards,
Michał Górny