On Thu, 8 Mar 2012 18:30:47 +0100
Jeroen Roovers <jer@g.o> wrote:
> On Thu, 8 Mar 2012 17:14:58 +0000
> Ciaran McCreesh <ciaran.mccreesh@...> wrote:
> > Having a different, special rule for something that looks exactly
> > like lots of other things that do not have that different, special
> > rule is hardly hair splitting. This rule would have to be
> > documented and have special code to carefully enforce it. That's a
> > big deal.
> 
> Exactly like HOMEPAGE is a big deal?
> 
> HOMEPAGE	 Package's homepage. If you are unable to locate an
> official one, try to provide a link to freshmeat.net or a similar
> package tracking site. Never refer to a variable name in the string;
> include only raw text.
> 
> http://devmanual.gentoo.org/ebuild-writing/variables/index.html

That's a QA thing, not a spec thing, and it's there because some
old-school developers don't know how to use their package manager
properly, and want to copy-paste a string from an ebuild into their
browser.

It's a silly rule. And if you take a count of how many ebuilds and
eclasses break that rule, you'll see exactly why such rules are a
problem.

-- 
Ciaran McCreesh