Gentoo Archives: gentoo-dev

From: Kent Fredric <kentfredric@×××××.com>
To: gentoo-dev@l.g.o
Subject: Re: [gentoo-dev] minimalistic emerge
Date: Fri, 08 Aug 2014 15:51:30
Message-Id: CAATnKFBF5g0rGoRfMgzkNA0=AV9a3VShwm8F70XzN-QZwc2=qg@mail.gmail.com
In Reply to: [gentoo-dev] minimalistic emerge by Igor
1 On 9 August 2014 01:12, Igor <lanthruster@×××××.com> wrote:
2
3 > Most of the maintainers just depend on new
4 > packages not knowing if it's necessary or not resulting in a really HUGE
5 > update that in the absolute majority of cases destabilize GENTOO making it
6 > not operational and WORSE than it was before. You then STABILIZE it again
7 > spending hours and then the story repeats itself.
8
9
10 Some of your assumptions seem misguided.
11
12 Some cases, dependencies are forward specifications from upstream telling
13 us what their software needs to function properly. Failing to meet that
14 requirement could void our support warranty from upstream.
15
16 Likewise, using 'nodeps' voids your support warranty from gentoo.
17
18 And just because "it works for me" that doesn't mean its not broken, it
19 just means you've not encountered the broken scenario that the dependencies
20 exist to guard against.
21
22 Very often upstream will discover a case where X doesn't work in 10% of the
23 problem space.
24
25 There's no way to communicate to a user what you will and will not do with
26 the software, so its impossible to know what flaws you will and won't
27 encounter, so the dependencies thus declare a minimum for expected working
28 behaviour for *all* a software's functionality, not just your user-specific
29 subset.
30
31 If you wish to override that decision, you may, but your self-supporting
32 from that point on.
33
34
35 TL;DR = just because it works /for you/, doesn't mean it /isn't broken/ and
36 doesn't mean the minimum declaration is "unnecessary" for all users.
37
38
39
40 --
41 Kent
42
43 *KENTNL* - https://metacpan.org/author/KENTNL

Replies

Subject Author
Re: [gentoo-dev] minimalistic emerge Igor <lanthruster@×××××.com>
Re: [gentoo-dev] minimalistic emerge Peter Stuge <peter@×××××.se>