Re: [gentoo-dev] GLEP 42 "Critical News Reporting" Round Two

[Jason Stubbs]

> A more reliable way of getting news of critical updates out to users is
> required to avoid repeats of the various recent upgrade debacles.

Examples of the "recent upgrade debacles" aren't needed, but you should at 
least state some of the outcomes that occurred, whether it be unscheduled 
downtime, data corruption or whatever.

> Preemptive
>     Users should be told of changes *before* they break the user's system,
>     after the damage has already been done.

s/after/when/ perhaps? This sentence takes a couple of reads...

> No user subscription required
>     It has already been demonstrated [#forums-whining]_ that many users do
>     not read the ``gentoo-announce`` mailing list or ``RSS`` feeds.

Could you use "complaints" instead of "whining" or whatever will represent 
what the users are doing from an unbiased point of view please?

> Quality control
>     There should be some way to ensure that badly written or irrelevant
>     messages are not sent out, for example by inexperienced developers,
>     those whose English language skills are below par or morons.

"morons" is not needed either.

> The following headers are used for filtering. If none of these headers are
> specified, the news item is displayed for all users. Otherwise, the news
> item is displayed if *at least one* header matches.

It would seem more useful if the headers were sorted into the three classes 
first. A news item would then only be displayed if a header from the class 
matches or the class is empty. This would allow for rules such as 
"net-www/apache is installed and the keyword is either mips or sparc".

> ``Display-If-Installed:``
>     A dependency atom or simple package name (for example,
>     ``<dev-lang/php-5_alpha`` or ``net-www/apache``). If the user has the
>     package specified installed, the news item should be displayed.
>
> ``Display-If-Keyword:``
>     A keyword [#glep-22]_ name, for example ``mips``. If the user is on the
>     arch in question, the news item should be displayed.
>
> ``Display-If-Profile:``
>     A profile path, for example ``default-linux/sparc/sparc64/server``. If
>     the user is using the exact profile in question, the news item should be
>     displayed. This header may be used to replace ``deprecated`` files in
>     the future.

Isn't keyword just a generalization of profile? Why have both?

> Thus, all proposed news items must be posted to the ``gentoo-dev`` or
> ``gentoo-core`` mailing list, and ``Cc:``\ed to ``pr@g.o`` at least
> 72 hours before being committed (exceptions may be made in exceptional
> circumstances). Any complaints regarding wording or clarity **must** be
> addressed before the news item goes live.

Why gentoo-core? It's a news item; it's purpose is to be made public.

> Client Side
> '''''''''''
>
> Whenever relevant unread news items are found, ``emerge`` will copy or
> symlink the news file into ``/var/lib/gentoo/news/``.
>
> Notification that new relevant news items will be displayed via the
> ``emerge`` tool in a similar way to the existing "configuration files need
> updating" messages:
>
> ::
>
>     * Important: 3 config files in /etc need updating.
>     * Type emerge --help config to learn how to update config files.
>
>     * Important: there are 5 unread news items.
>     * Type emerge --help news to learn how to read news files.
>
> The unread news message will also be displayed immediately after an
> ``emerge sync``.
>
> Portage may also warn of unread news items using, for example, a red flashy
> before actions such as merging a package.
>
> Portage must keep track of news items which have already been installed to
> avoid repeatedly reinstalling a deleted news item.

Why put this in portage at all? Post sync hooks will likely be available in 
2.0.54. If adding hooks were as easy as adding a file to a portage config 
directory, would adding the package that does the above to the system package 
set be enough to force this new information dispersal method on users?

> Once a news item is 'installed', third party tools (or a traditional Unix
> pager and ``rm``) can be used to display and view the news files. An
> ``eselect`` [#eselect]_ module shall be created as the 'suggested' display
> tool; other display tools (for example, a news to email forwarder, which
> would be ideal for users who sync on a cron) are left as options for those
> who desire them -- the simple file format make this relatively simple.

This is just more reasoning that nothing should be added to portage at all...

--
Jason Stubbs

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