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On 04/26/2015 03:17 PM, Philip Webb wrote: |
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> 150426 Neil Bothwick wrote: |
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>> On Sun, 26 Apr 2015 15:49:19 +0200, Alan McKinnon wrote: |
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>>> Emerge really needs to have it's output redesigned from scratch. |
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>> I t needs a full overhaul of the way it communicates what is happening. |
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> |
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> +1 : 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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> |
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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 and |
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all of the possible conflicts that can arise. |
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4. Come up with some better ways to explain the error messages that are |
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shown. |
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5. Never get around to writing the patch, because now you understand |
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what portage is telling you. |
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More seriously, once you start working on (3), you'll realize that just |
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because the error messages suck doesn't mean you can make them better. |
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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 so that the new |
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version of xorg-server will work so that the new version of opengl will |
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work so that you can upgrade tuxracer. Portage can't figure out stuff |
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like that. |
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If you're willing to wait an hour, it might be able to come up with a |
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list of ways you could resolve a conflict, but basically all of them |
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will be wrong (e.g. suggestion #1, uninstall everything). All portage |
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errors are essentially, "you want something and you can't have it." The |
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solution is then to adjust slightly what it is that you asked for, but |
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portage doesn't know what you really want or what you're willing to |
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settle for, so the best it can do is give you the information you need |
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to ask it a different question. |
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