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Recent discussion on this ML and on the portage-ml as well as |
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#gentoo-portage regarding pkg_warn() and the basic concept behind it. |
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We talked about adding new functionality, about adding a warning section |
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to the ebuild or to the metadata. However. all of these tend to have |
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problems. The dev won't write the extra function, duplication of data |
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in pkg_{post/pre}inst, mangling of metadata.xml. |
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Portage current features the -l switch, to show changelogs. It works |
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pretty well to show changes in packages prior to emerging. For example, |
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emerge -uDpvl world -> shows what will emerge then shows the changelogs |
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for each package. For a very large set of packages the output can be |
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overwhelming, however all the changelogs are provided and the user at |
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least has data to parse through. |
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|
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The problem is that the ebuild is where all the action is, and the |
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changelogs lay empty. Users cannot run most ebuild functions prior to |
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emerging packages ( usually pkg_postinst() for migrating instructions ), |
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thus any important messages that need to be seen that deal with the |
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package are only seen after it is installed. This is bad because the |
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user is not warned ahead of time about any issues ( new library |
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installed, breaks new processes that link to it ). |
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Basically this is a suggestion for developers to put more information in |
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the changelog. You are ( usually ) the maintainer, you know what the |
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program can do, what problems it can cause. Putting this information in |
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pkg_postinst() is good, but putting it in the changelog is better. |
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Believe it or not; users actually read the changelog and hope at times |
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that it provides valuable information about the package and not "marked |
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stable on foo ( #41975 )". |
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|
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Marking it stable on an arch and knowing that moving to stable has the |
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potential to break stable systems should be noted in the changelog, even |
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if there is just a pointer to a website, or to the ebuild itself to read |
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the pkg_postinst() and figure out wtf is going to happen. |
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|
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*Marches toward better changelogs since most of the current logs are |
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rather skimpy on any details* |
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|
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- -Ajec |
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warnera6@×××××××.edu |
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