Re: [gentoo-dev] [RFC] New RESTRICT=live value for identification of live ebuilds?

[Joe Peterson]

Vaeth wrote:
> The main point in introducing the "live" USE flag should be IMHO to
> let the user decide whether the sources should be fetched. The fact
> that IUSE then marks live ebuilds in the way which you wanted is an
> additional side effect.

A tend to agree with Zac that USE flags should not dictate package
manager behavior (e.g. whether a package gets included in a specific
package set or defining a package as "live"), and the idea of the IUSE
side-effect seems a bit unclean (i.e., behaviors that the dev did not
intend might end up being a surprize; I think we need to be careful
about side-effects).

However, I do see the point about the RESTRICT variable.  Throwing
random flags into it does not seem ideal, and I think convenience should
take a back seat to correctness when designing, e.g., ebuild
syntax/rules.  But why would using a new variable require an EAPI change
any more than adding new flags to RESTRICT?  I.e., if people start using
"OPTIONS=" or "FLAGS=", it would simply be ignored by older package
manager versions, just like new RESTRICT values would be ignored.  Or am
I missing something fundamental?

						-Joe