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150426 Michael Orlitzky wrote: |
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> On 04/26/2015 03:17 PM, Philip Webb wrote: |
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>> Portage needs to tell users (1) more clearly what's gone wrong, |
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>> (2) what their choices are, (3) how to resolve the problem. |
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> The process goes something like this: |
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> 1. Become frustrated with the obtuse portage output. |
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> 2. Get familiar with the portage source code. |
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> 3. Develop an understanding of the dependency resolution process |
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> and all of the possible conflicts that can arise. |
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> 4. Come up with better ways to explain the error messages that are shown. |
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> 5. Never get around to writing the patch, |
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> because now you understand what Portage is telling you. |
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That's far too much to expect of users : we're not dev's. |
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> More seriously, once you start working on (3), you'll realize |
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> that just because the error msgs suck doesn't mean you can make them better. |
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If they "suck", they're not worth issuing, are they ? |
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I'm not willing to become a dev, so I'll never know if I cd improve them, |
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but it doesn't follow that no-one else could. |
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> Maybe the best solution to a conflict is to buy a new video card for $5, |
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> so that a newer version of nvidia-drivers will work, |
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> so that the new version of xorg-server will work, |
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> so that the new version of opengl will work, |
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> so that you can upgrade tuxracer. |
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> Portage can't figure out stuff like that. |
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I'm not asking it to : citing extreme cases is a popular excuse for inaction. |
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> If you're willing to wait an hour, it might be able to come up |
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> with a list of ways you could resolve a conflict, but basically |
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> all of them will be wrong, eg suggestion #1, uninstall everything. |
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Really, this is a flippant response to a serious issue, |
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which is being raised more often on the Gentoo User list. |
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> All portage errors are essentially : |
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> "you want something and you can't have it". |
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Well, you said above that Portage doesn't know what the user wants (smile). |
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> The solution is then to adjust slightly what it is that you asked for, |
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> but Portage doesn't know what you really want |
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> or what you're willing to settle for, |
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> so the best it can do is give you the information you need |
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> so that you can ask it a different question. |
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Users need advice from Portage re the range + type of questions to ask. |
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Portage needs to list possibilities + alternatives, ok a short list. |
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At present, it spews out opaque lists of things it can't do |
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& offers no assistance to users re what it mb able to do. |
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-- |
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========================,,============================================ |
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SUPPORT ___________//___, Philip Webb |
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ELECTRIC /] [] [] [] [] []| Cities Centre, University of Toronto |
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TRANSIT `-O----------O---' purslowatchassdotutorontodotca |