Re: [gentoo-dev] [RFC] New QA policy: Packages must not disable installing manpages via USE flags

[Matt Turner]

On Sat, Jul 20, 2019 at 1:22 PM Michał Górny <mgorny@g.o> wrote:
>
> On Sat, 2019-07-20 at 23:04 +0300, Andrew Savchenko wrote:
> > On Sat, 20 Jul 2019 20:28:39 +0200 Michał Górny wrote:
> > > On Sat, 2019-07-20 at 20:50 +0300, Andrew Savchenko wrote:
> > > > On Wed, 17 Jul 2019 15:25:10 +0200 Michał Górny wrote:
> > > > > Hello,
> > > > >
> > > > > The QA team would like to introduce the following policy:
> > > > >
> > > > > """
> > > > > Packages must not disable installing manpages via USE flags (e.g.
> > > > > USE=man or USE=doc).  If upstream does not ship prebuilt manpages
> > > > > and building them requires additional dependencies, the maintainer
> > > > > should build them and ship along with the package.
> > > > > """
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > Explanatory note:
> > > > >
> > > > > This applies to having USE flags that specifically control building
> > > > > manpages.  It obviously does not affect:
> > > > >
> > > > > a. USE flags that disable building both a program and its manpage (e.g.
> > > > > if USE=gui disables building gfrobnicate, not installing gfrobnicate(1)
> > > > > is correct),
> > > > >
> > > > > b. use of LINGUAS to control installed manpages.
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > Rationale:
> > > > >
> > > > > Manpages are the basic form of user documentation on Gentoo Linux.  Not
> > > > > installing them is harmful to our users.  On the other hand, requiring
> > > > > additional dependencies is inconvenient.  Therefore, packaging prebuilt
> > > > > manpages (whenever upstream doesn't do that already) is a good
> > > > > compromise that provides user with documentation without additional
> > > > > dependencies.
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > What are your comments?
> > > >
> > > > The basic foundation of Gentoo is freedom of choise for our users.
> > > > If installing man pages means no additional dependencies, than
> > > > proposed rule is ok. However if such dependencies are required it is
> > > > up to users to decide if they wan them or not.
> > > >
> > > > Having USE=man (or USE=doc) for such purposes is fine. Having
> > > > USE=man enabled by default in user profile is also fine. Forcing
> > > > users to install unnecessary dependencies on minimal systems in a
> > > > no go and turns Gentoo into something else.
> > > >
> > >
> > > Could you please read the proposed policy?  It explicitly says you are
> > > *not* supposed to force extra deps on users but build manpages for them.
> >
> > Could you please what the other developers have already replied to
> > you on this matter? This will be a significant increase in
> > maintenance burden for both developers and advanced users without
> > much to gain.
> >
>
> Yes, I get it.  User experience is not important if it would mean
> developers would actually do anything but the bare minimum to get
> from one paycheck to another.  The usual Gentoo attitude.

I don't understand your reaction, but it's very common with
predictable steps to generate it:

  1) You make a proposal
  2) People offer feedback and ask questions
  3) You respond combatively (or not at all), as if you are upset that
people perhaps are not 100% aligned with your view.

... which honestly shouldn't be at all unexpected and is precisely why
requesting comments on a proposal is valuable.

My question earlier in the thread is relevant and still unaddressed.