Re: [gentoo-dev] pkg_pretend USE validation and VALID_USE alternative

[Ciaran McCreesh]

On Thu, 1 Apr 2010 04:18:27 -0700
Brian Harring <ferringb@×××××.com> wrote:
> Summarizing ciaran's claim to end this nonsense-
>
> VALID_USE isn't useful because use cycle breaking can't be done
> according to strictures he desires, as such VALID_USE is pointless
> because pkg_pretend can cover it.
>
> It's a bit brief and likely left out an insult or two, but it's to
> the point at least and doesn't need more expounding of his views.

Brian, you may find it beneficial to learn that criticism of a proposal
is not the same as an insult, and that correct criticism remains valid
regardless of where it comes from. Once you learn to accept that, you
may start finding it considerably easier to work with large teams on
technical issues.

And no. My claim is that since VALID_USE on its own doesn't allow for
anything that can't also be done by pkg_pretend, and since pkg_pretend
can do things that developers and users need that VALID_USE can't, and
since pkg_pretend doesn't break anything that's not already broken,
VALID_USE shouldn't be a priority. The issue can be revisited for EAPI 5
when there's more Portage development time available, and when it is
revisited, it should be done with related issues such as ensuring that
cycle breaking is possible without randomly breaking user systems in
horrible ways.

-- 
Ciaran McCreesh