Re: [gentoo-dev] vim-syntax USE flag

[Walter Dnes]

On Sun, Jul 23, 2017 at 05:46:04PM +0300, Andrew Savchenko wrote
> On Sat, 22 Jul 2017 22:00:16 +0100 Sergei Trofimovich wrote:
> > On Sat, 22 Jul 2017 16:27:39 -0400
> > Mike Gilbert <floppym@g.o> wrote:
> >
> > > Packages currently handle installation of vim syntax support files
> > > inconsistently. Some builds install the files if the "vim-syntax" USE
> > > flag is enabled, while others install them unconditionally.

  This reminds me of /usr/share/locale/*/LC_MESSAGES/<app-name> and
/usr/share/man/*/man/<app-name>.  There seem to be a lot of packages
that are hardcoded by upstream to install umpteen locales of this stuff.

> > >
> > > Do these files fall into the "small text files" category for
> > > unconditional installation? If so, we should probably phase out the
> > > vim-syntax USE flag.
> >
> > I'd say use flag is not needed as long as it does not slow vim startup
> > down by much and does not change editor behaviour for every single
> > edited file type.
>
> The problem here is more complicated. What about 100 plugins from
> different packages which of them is fast enough, but together they
> are slowing vim down to unacceptable level? Such case is
> especially sensitive on slow hardware.
>
> That's why fine control over vim files is mandatory. Yes, it
> requires to rebuild packages, but with ccache/distcc available this
> is not a huge issue. And if someone really want to avoid such
> rebuilds, vim files can always be put to a separated package;
> though I see no real reason to do this.
>
> Using INSTALL_MASK here is not an option, because toggling of
> individual vim files using it will be a nightmare.

  A heavy-handed solution to the extra man pages and LC_MESSAGES stuff
I mentioned above, is "localepurge".  The file "/etc/locale.nopurge"
contains a list of locales to *NOT* purge.  LC_MESSAGES and man pages
for all other locales are wiped.  I'm not a professional programmer, but
the following approach looks promising...

Option A) A standalone program/script called "vimodulepurge" which would
consult a file "/etc/vimodule.nopurge".  The algorithm would be to
"equery b" for each module in the module directory.  If the owner of the
module is not listed in "/etc/vimodule.nopurge", delete the module.

Option B) Integrate this functionality into Portage.  During the install
process, check if the ebuild being installed is listed in
"/etc/vimodule.nopurge".  If not, skip installing files into the vim
modules directory.  If "/etc/vimodule.nopurge" doesn't exist, or
"NEEDSCONFIGFIRST" has not been commented out, allow the modules to be
installed.

-- 
Walter Dnes <waltdnes@××××××××.org>
I don't run "desktop environments"; I run useful applications