Gentoo Archives: gentoo-dev

From: Duncan <1i5t5.duncan@×××.net>
To: gentoo-dev@l.g.o
Subject: [gentoo-dev] Re: [RFC] PROPERTIES=virtual for meta-packages (clarification of definition)
Date: Tue, 26 Aug 2008 06:40:09
Message-Id: pan.2008.08.26.06.39.38@cox.net
In Reply to: Re: [gentoo-dev] [RFC] PROPERTIES=virtual for meta-packages (clarification of definition) by David Leverton
1 David Leverton <levertond@××××××××××.com> posted
2 200808252103.27006.levertond@××××××××××.com, excerpted below, on Mon, 25
3 Aug 2008 21:03:26 +0100:
4
5 > On Monday 25 August 2008 20:36:34 Zac Medico wrote:
6 >> > Zac Medico <zmedico@g.o> wrote:
7 >> >> Looking at the dependencies of kde-base/kde, it seems like it would
8 >> >> be eligible to exhibit the "virtual" property.
9 >>
10 >> I'm inclined toward "virtual" since it's more brief and I think it
11 >> might strike a chord with more people because of their familiarity with
12 >> the "virtual" category and old-style PROVIDE virtuals. We'll have to
13 >> see what others have to say.
14 >
15 > kde-base/kde isn't like a new- or old-style virtual. If you want it to
16 > be used for metapackages and things too, calling it "virtual" would be
17 > confusing.
18
19 Well, we could all it meta, but then we'd have the opposite problem.
20
21 So what about meta-virt, or similar?
22
23 But I think virtual works just fine for kde-base/kde, too, if one simply
24 reads it literally -- it's a virtual package in that it doesn't install
25 anything itself, even if it's a meta-package rather than having the
26 meaning of the old-style virtual, that of selecting one of many
27 providers. So the only problem with virtual is the narrower old
28 meaning. Whether that's a big enough problem to worry about is of course
29 debatable, but I don't personally believe it is, and find it every bit as
30 clear and actually much less confusing than zero-install-cost.
31
32 --
33 Duncan - List replies preferred. No HTML msgs.
34 "Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
35 and if you use the program, he is your master." Richard Stallman

Replies

Subject Author
Re: [gentoo-dev] Re: [RFC] PROPERTIES=virtual for meta-packages (clarification of definition) Ciaran McCreesh <ciaran.mccreesh@××××××××××.com>