[gentoo-user] Re: ncurses: reductio ad absurdum

[James]

Rich Freeman <rich0 <at> gentoo.org> writes:

>
> On Fri, Aug 28, 2015 at 10:24 AM, James <wireless <at> tampabay.rr.com> wrote:
> >
> > It there an easy, automated way to have this inforation on my system(s)
> > without extra keystrokes?
>
> Either wait for somebody to provide the old-style changelogs (some
> consider this critical, some consider this pointless - I'll admit I
> tend to fall in the latter), or just sync from git and run git
> log/whatchanged <path> or even tig <path>.  That really gets you the
> same info and more, and lets you filter by path, file, and so on.

Well, my git (kung fu) is currently terse. So, how do I automate
this so the data via Git is on my system, say synced once a day?
What I do not want is a 'per package' effort; suggestions
are most welcome as is syntactical examples.

> Also, if a commit touched many packages at once it will show up in the
> log for each of the packages, but looking at it will also show you all
> the other related changes.  It really is a much more data-rich view.

I agree with this. But since the Changlog data was a fundamental part
of Gentoo, for a very long time, and the devs wisely chose to upgrade
to git, I would think that this functionality would be provided
via git, at least by some hacks or detailed example. I do not need
another project and I do read and experiment quite a bit with git. But that
growth is going to take time. In the meantime WE, the gentoo users should
not be required to study git and roll our own solution, one at a time from
previously well defined functionality, imho. Besides Git is
quite a beast:: how long from inception to completion did the gentoo git
migration take? years? a decade?

> While I do believe the ChangeLogs will show up again for those who
> prefer them, I think that taking a bit of time to learn to use git is
> going to make your life better in the long haul.  I think that in time
> people will stop using ChangeLogs.

But that's exactly the point; for Changelogs and such info, there
should at least be a news item or dev-blog post on automating such
things. Per packages solutions miss the point of convenience of Changelogs.
Enhanced data beyond changelogs? Sure, but that caveat should not be
a blocker to what was available. ymmv. 


The simple matter is Changelogs are very useful, quick and simple and 
once you see a seasoned dev did the work, most look elsewhere for problems.
As you know there is quite a variance in dev skills, particularly with
different languages and large/complex projects.


wwr,
James