Re: [gentoo-dev] gtk2 use flag must die

[Mart Raudsepp]

On Sun, 2006-04-02 at 23:20 +0200, Jakub Moc wrote:
> Mike Frysinger wrote:
> > On Sunday 02 April 2006 15:34, Jakub Moc wrote:
> >> Mike Frysinger wrote:
> >>> and if there are no bugs filed ?  this sort of stance is like the
> >>> "lets remove packages from portage because upstream is dead" ... it
> >>> benefits no one
> >> No bugs filed? Well, just search the archives of this ML, and search
> >> bugzilla for all those bugs about portage pulling in gtk2 when users had
> >> USE="-gtk2" set, or for all bugs about the confusion what USE="gtk
> >> -gtk2" or USE="-gtk gtk2" actually means...
> >
> > unrelated
> >
> > i'm talking about buts in the packages themselves, not end user confusion
> > -mike
>
> Not really, since the retarded handling of those use flags combos in
> ebuilds has been one of the key reasons to deprecate this. Also, this is
> rather funny why xml2 use flags needs to be removed (it was you who
> suggested that) - yet you resist to get rid of gtk2 use flag, which is
> *way* more confusing (heck, look at that old wxGTK stuff, it's nasty and
> confusing like hell).

wxGTK-2.6* is fully supported upstream as linked against gtk1 and gtk2.
However, that only is for things that exist already in case of gtk1 - we
can't implement everything for gtk1 due to it not being as feature-rich
as gtk2, and there is no point in implementing new features for gtk1
too, if it's easy with gtk2.

The official support for gtk1 will end with the development cycle of
2.7.x, and won't be considered a fully supported port with the stable
release of 2.8.x either. gtk1 code has been separated into a different
port, duplicating some of the common gtk code. wxGTK1 (wxGTK built
against GTK+-1.2) is essentially at the same level as wxMotif, wxX11 and
other similar community driven ports who don't get the full manpower of
developers. wxGTK2 however lives a happy life, free from the gtk1
burden.
So, for wxGTK-2.8.x whenever it's out (a year?) there is no USE flag
confusion - one port builds only against one major version of gtk2
(until gtk3 comes out, see Project Ridley).
There should be a different package for those that wish the wxGTK1 port,
if that package is needed at all.

This is also the way that I would suggest handling wxGTK today (2.4 and
2.6).
Have two different ebuilds, nuke that crazy no_wxgtk1 USE flag (and
perhaps have a USE flag for building non-unicode version together with
unicode version instead), use gtk instead of gtk2 flag and call it a
day.
Name em wxGTK and wxGTK1 for example, wxGTK1 perhaps even
package.mask'ed - not as feature-rich, more bugs than the gtk2 version,
etc.

That's then my view and suggestion on how to approach the wxGTK issue in
the way to get rid of the gtk2 USE flag.
As for the only valid reason to keep it that I've heard, which was
people wishing to prefer gtk1 when available for leaner resource usage,
I'd personally suggest a gtk1 USE flag instead of gtk2, as that is
rarely needed for normal people, and therefore no extra USE flag to set
in the common case.
I'd also suggest said people to disable anti-aliasing, use the default
gtk2 theme, and use gtk2.6 for not that bigger resource usage.

Delaying GNOME-2.14 for non-GNOME packages using gtk2 USE flag is mildly
funny to me, too.
Some two weeks have passed from 2.14 release, I would have expected it
to be in x86 at least a week ago... but I'm living in a utopian land.

-- 
With regards,
Mart Raudsepp

Project manager of wxMUD      - http://wxmud.sourceforge.net/
Developer of wxWidgets        - http://www.wxwidgets.org/
GTK+ port maintainer of OMGUI - http://www.omgui.org/

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