[gentoo-dev] Re: Re: Re: When will KDE 3.5 be marked as stable?

[Duncan]

Philip Webb posted <20060505073706.GB6335@×××××××××.ca>, excerpted below, 
on Fri, 05 May 2006 03:37:06 -0400:

> That's very much my own impression.  I am now using ~x86 versions of Vim
> Vim-core Gvim Cdargs Openoffice Eix Euses Gqview Gwenview Portage Firefox
> Galeon Htop KDE -- all of which which I use regularly -- & Abiword
> Gnumeric Koffice Gnugo Qgo Qalculate-kde (which I rarely use). I have had
> no problem with any of them.
>
> My solution is a line in  .bashrc :
>   'alias emergeu='ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="~x86" emerge' ,
> which allows me to emerge a testing version on a specific occasion. The
> package.keywords  alternative is silly, as there's no reason anyone would
> want to do it regularly for a package, as opposed to occasionally when --
> increasingly -- stabilisation is late.
>
> I do a weekly 'eix-sync' & check the list of packages which have changed,
> then decide which ones to update; I never do 'emerge world'. I keep an
> upto-date file with a line for each package I have installed, incl date,
> version & the main dependencies it satisfies (if any): this is my
> alternative to 'world', which is clumsy & causes problems.
>
> I have been doing this since I started using Gentoo in Oct 2003 & have
> never had any problem with Portage or packages as a result.

Here, I simply use ~amd64 for my entire system, and rarely have problems. 
When I do, that's what those backup snapshot partitions I keep around are
for.

Gentoo is really fairly conservative with ~arch.  That does /not/ mean the
package is broken, or the upstream package is unstable.  Rather, it means
the upstream package is reasonably stable, and the Gentoo ebuild is known
to work and is tested at least by the Gentoo maintainer.

Really broken packages and packages known to have very serious issues on
Gentoo aren't ~arch at all, but are instead hard-masked, either with the
-* keyword, or with an entry in package.mask.

Given these facts, I'm of the opinion that most of those running stable
that are calling for faster package stabilization, should really be
running ~arch.  That's doubly true for those finding they have an
ever-growing package.keywords and/or those calling for a "middle" keyword.
In point of fact, ~arch /is/ that middle keyword, because the really
unstable packages are hard-masked and not in ~arch in the first place.

Actually, I run selected hard-masked packages as well.  Particularly with
things like gcc, which is slotted and easily managed with gcc-config or
eselect compiler, it's quite easy to run hard-masked stuff in parallel. 
Something like xorg isn't as easy to run in parallel as it's not slotted,
but even there, given FEATURES=buildpkg, if one has the time and
motivation to test a masked version,  it's relatively painless to revert
to an old version if the test doesn't work out so well (with the caveat of
course that one keeps backups, as one should anyway, in case something
goes /really/ wrong -- it IS hard-masked packages we are talking about
now, after all).

Again, I don't see the problem.  Stable is there for those that want it.
~arch is there for those that want something newer, with a bit of extra
risk.  Hard-masked-for-testing packages are very often there for those who
REALLY want bleeding edge -- along with the associated increase in risk. 
If folks don't like how far behind stable is, and are willing to risk not
only their own systems with the package in its current state, but the
systems of everyone else running stable (which is what requesting faster
stabilization actually comes down to), they shouldn't be running stable
after all, but the "middle" keyword, that being ~arch.  That way, they get
their newer, mostly stable programs, while everyone who /really/ wants
stable doesn't end up with the risk of stabilizing the package too fast. 
Of course, note that package.keywords works both ways.  Folks running
~arch as their regular keyword can set specific packages to arch (stable)
in package.keywords too.  Again, Gentoo is very flexible in that regard --
some might say insanely flexible, but it works, if people would only read
the docs and follow them as appropriate.

-- 
Duncan - List replies preferred.   No HTML msgs.
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master."  Richard Stallman in
http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/pub/a/linux/2004/12/22/rms_interview.html


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