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David Leverton <levertond@××××××××××.com> posted |
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200905161059.53706.levertond@××××××××××.com, excerpted below, on Sat, 16 |
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May 2009 10:59:53 +0100: |
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> But the point isn't that we want to be able to do those things. The |
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> point is that if the EAPI is in the filename, it's blatantly obvious |
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> that it has to be static, but adding strange and unintuitive |
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> restrictions on which shell constructs can be used is, well, strange and |
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> unintuitive. |
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|
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Has it really come down to this? |
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I mean, for the longest time, the main (among many) boosting claim seemed |
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to be that the speed difference between in-file and in-filename made the |
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former prohibitive in practice. Perhaps the benchmarks the council asked |
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for are disproving this. I don't know but I know I sure see a lot less |
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of that claim, call it a deemphasis if you will, now, only that the |
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filename method (i.e. glep55) isn't slower. <shrug> |
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Now, the main argument seems to be that glep55 filename based eapis are |
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"more intuitive". |
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|
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The argument was originally made that a simple highly specified EAPI= |
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declaration in the file itself was too restrictive of all the ways it |
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could be specified now -- until it began to be pointed out every time the |
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argument was made that the filename method was very similarly |
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restricted. |
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Now that argument has been debunked and no longer works as it did, so it |
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seems the reasons now being presented are what they have left, that the |
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filename restriction is "blatantly obvious", while the in-file EAPI= |
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restrictions are "unintuitive". |
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I'd argue no, it's no more unintuitive than any other format definition |
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choice. It's the basic format definition, using the long accepted method |
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of "magic values" at a "magic location" to define the format version. |
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That's very basic definitional, restricted only to the degree necessary |
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for practical application of the definition. Therefore, it's not |
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unintuitive, or at least, certainly no more so than arbitrarily defining |
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it to be in the filename instead, because "intuitive" now gets defined by |
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the format definition at an extremely basic level, well below the level |
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at which all the "intuitive or not" fancy stuff gets addressed. |
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|
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Regardless, the practical effect is the same, (relatively) severe |
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restrictions from the extremely loose definition we have now. The |
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restrictions are even similar. Thus, it's only an argument over how |
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"intuitive" it is, and, well, a stable "base" definition that's |
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unchanging is certainly going to look more "intuitive" than say, what |
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features are in each EAPI, the much more difficult and "unintuitive" |
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thing devs are already trying to track. |
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Anyway, if it has come down to arguing how intuitive the two opposing |
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options may be, that's GOOD news indeed! It means the important |
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questions are, one way or another, getting resolved. After that, |
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ultimately, it's a council judgment call, and we're actually getting |
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close! |
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|
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Unfortunately, "close" is a relative term. =:^( Realistically? |
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I'm not sure it's going to resolve by the end of this council's term, but |
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provided the elections don't shake things up too badly, it actually looks |
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possible to do so reasonably within the /next/ council's term. We've |
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never actually had it (realistically) that close before! |
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|
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-- |
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Duncan - List replies preferred. No HTML msgs. |
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"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master -- |
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and if you use the program, he is your master." Richard Stallman |