Re: [gentoo-dev] Should "server" be a global use flag?

[Jeroen Roovers]

On Tue, 24 May 2011 11:52:51 +0400
Peter Volkov <pva@g.o> wrote:

> В Пнд, 23/05/2011 в 17:19 +0200, Jeroen Roovers пишет:
> > I find myself wondering why so much information is being jammed into
> > USE flag descriptions that /should/ be available in HOWTOs from
> > upstream, or else should be written down in HOWTOs we maintain
> > ourselves - we (Gentoo) used to be good at providing HOWTOs as
> > needed and it's a good tradition to keep up. It helps the entire
> > open source community and not just our users, too.
>
> I don't see how moving USE flag descriptions from portage tree in
> HOWTOs will help community. This will just take more time to check
> what USE flag does. Also it's clear that maintaining another 10
> guides will just slow things down with no real benefit.

I never suggested were moving USE flag descriptions into HOWTOs (how?
what does that mean?). I said USE flag descriptions were being (ab)used
where proper HOWTOs would serve users better.

And I suggested HOWTOs should be used to introduce users to new
software - good upstreams do this, and Gentoo used to do this a lot,
which is one of Gentoo's great attractions.

Explaining how a package works in USE flag descriptions is no
replacement for good documentation, and the <flag> tags in
metadata.xml weren't introduced to replace documentation.

> > Anyway, count the YESs above. Maybe some people want to
> > comment/explain/defend how they wrote their descriptions, so don't
> > touch them just yet. :)
>
> We can add global 'server' USE flag and still keep local USE flag
> descriptions where they make global description a bit more clear. And
> if I understood your last message correctly, in case you want to
> update USE flag descriptions yourself, please, don't touch USE flag
> descriptions but open bugs for maintainers to decide.

Who me? Please read the entire thread.

And please don't be so territorial either - just blame the right people
when they mess up, instead.


     jer