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Ciaran McCreesh wrote: |
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|
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> On Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:59:41 +0100 |
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> Steve Long <slong@××××××××××××××××××.uk> wrote: |
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>> I concur that it makes a lot of sense, fitting in exactly with the |
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>> meaning originally given. That it means 'zero-install-cost' is |
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>> neither here nor there imo; 'virtual' is a well understood terms for |
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>> the same thing: an ebuild that doesn't in itself install anything. |
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> |
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> Except that that's not what it's being used to mean. It's being used to |
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> mean "the cost of selecting this when doing dependency resolution cost |
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> analysis is zero", which is an entirely different thing. |
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> |
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So it's zero-resolution-cost now? Yes, that *is* different (although I'd use |
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free-resolve. "free" is well understood as often meaning "zero-cost," which |
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isn't a phrase most English-speaking people use. It only has meaning within |
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the PROPERTIES variable, so it's not going to clash with anything.) |
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|
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'Since new-style virtuals are a type of "meta-package", I'd prefer that we |
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introduce some type of package metadata into the EAPI that distiguishes |
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meta-packages (those that do not install anything) from normal packages.'[1] |
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|
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>> It's clearly something that can be useful across the tree, and can |
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>> apply to an ebuild as opposed to a package. Forcing a category (or a |
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>> pkgmove which is a pita aiui) seems inelegant (and doesn't enable the |
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>> second use-case); the property is far more appropriate, and as you |
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>> say, 'virtual' is less confusing for a user than 'zero-install-cost', |
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>> especially within Gentoo. |
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> |
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> Users don't need to see it. Heck, most developers don't need to see it. |
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> |
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Well any dev using it will do, and I believe most of them start out as |
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users. Anyone reading the ebuild will see it, and the fact that it's a |
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well-understood term, within Gentoo at least[2], makes it easier for the PM |
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user-base to work with. |
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|
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It's a cultural "people understand this already" point as opposed to a |
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technical make-it-as-explicit-as-we-can one. |
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|
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That it's easier to scan and type is a bonus. |
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[1] http://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=141118#c5 (bug has previously |
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been cited as part of the motivation for this property.) |
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[2] Of course for a new project, one could use whichever term one felt like, |
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since users would be expecting a divergent codebase. Heck, it might even be |
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worth changing names of stuff just for the sake of appearing shiny (or to |
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kill backward-compatibility, or make it harder for people to make the |
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mental switch back. Every little helps.) |