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* [gentoo-dev] changelogs...
@ 2003-05-22 20:51 Spundun Bhatt
  2003-05-22 21:56 ` Dylan Carlson
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 20+ messages in thread
From: Spundun Bhatt @ 2003-05-22 20:51 UTC (permalink / raw
  To: gentoo-dev

As a sidenote to the currently going discussion about package
description.

When I recieve updates of ebuilds... I am usually curious whats new to
checkout (I am sure everybody is). 
I always do emerge -u --deep world -p --changelog
But more often than not... chang log says "version bump" which doesnt
tellme anything.
Is it feasible to add a url to the release note of the release (in cases
where its not an ebuild bugfix release). 
I dont know if there anything to do about it.. but I see gnome.org as
the homepage of all components so its not easy atall to find out what a
perticular component does.

Hope this Helps
Spundun


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^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 20+ messages in thread
* [gentoo-dev] Changelogs
@ 2005-07-27  2:05 Alec Warner
  2005-07-27  2:22 ` Georgi Georgiev
                   ` (2 more replies)
  0 siblings, 3 replies; 20+ messages in thread
From: Alec Warner @ 2005-07-27  2:05 UTC (permalink / raw
  To: gentoo-dev

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Recent discussion on this ML and on the portage-ml as well as
#gentoo-portage regarding pkg_warn() and the basic concept behind it.
We talked about adding new functionality, about adding a warning section
to the ebuild or to the metadata.  However.  all of these tend to have
problems.  The dev won't write the extra function, duplication of data
in pkg_{post/pre}inst, mangling of metadata.xml.

Portage current features the -l switch, to show changelogs.  It works
pretty well to show changes in packages prior to emerging.  For example,
emerge -uDpvl world -> shows what will emerge then shows the changelogs
for each package.  For a very large set of packages the output can be
overwhelming, however all the changelogs are provided and the user at
least has data to parse through.

The problem is that the ebuild is where all the action is, and the
changelogs lay empty.  Users cannot run most ebuild functions prior to
emerging packages ( usually pkg_postinst() for migrating instructions ),
thus any important messages that need to be seen that deal with the
package are only seen after it is installed.  This is bad because the
user is not warned ahead of time about any issues ( new library
installed, breaks new processes that link to it ).

Basically this is a suggestion for developers to put more information in
the changelog.  You are ( usually ) the maintainer, you know what the
program can do, what problems it can cause.  Putting this information in
pkg_postinst() is good, but putting it in the changelog is better.
Believe it or not; users actually read the changelog and hope at times
that it provides valuable information about the package and not "marked
stable on foo ( #41975 )".

Marking it stable on an arch and knowing that moving to stable has the
potential to break stable systems should be noted in the changelog, even
if there is just a pointer to a website, or to the ebuild itself to read
the pkg_postinst() and figure out wtf is going to happen.

*Marches toward better changelogs since most of the current logs are
rather skimpy on any details*

- -Ajec
warnera6@egr.msu.edu
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^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 20+ messages in thread
* RE: [gentoo-dev] changelogs...
@ 2003-05-22 22:31 Rex Young
  2003-05-23  6:49 ` Dylan Carlson
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 20+ messages in thread
From: Rex Young @ 2003-05-22 22:31 UTC (permalink / raw
  To: gentoo-dev


>unfotunately this is oftem the case. Right now as I write on my machine
>if I execute the following.you will see that only the vim 
>updates have a
>proper release notes right on the front page. Orbit and gnome-vfs point
>directly to gnome.org where I havent been able to find any 
>release note.
>(I looked for release notes of ORBit for like more than an 
>hour.... then
>I posted the message). fileroller website hasnt even announced any such
>release... only the tarballs available on on gnome (boy is gentoo
>cutting edge :) ). gaim also doesnt provide any realease note 
>on the web
>site. I suppose all these packages provide release notes in the source
>tarball... but thats not very convenient.. it defeats some of the
>purpose of the gentoo system to download the file and expand just to
>read the release note.


I would like to echo this.  More than twice, I've looked to a web page
to learn a little more about a package only to find scant information,
or worse, a dead link.

I like this idea so much, that I'll offer to get it rolling.  If it should
be decided that this will be done, I'm sure that there will be quite a
number
of previously released packages which would like a longer description added
to them.  I'm only an engineer, not a software developer, but this is
something
I think I can handle.

-rex

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^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 20+ messages in thread
* [gentoo-dev] changelogs
@ 2001-11-05 11:26 Jon Nelson
  2001-11-05 11:37 ` Grant Goodyear
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 20+ messages in thread
From: Jon Nelson @ 2001-11-05 11:26 UTC (permalink / raw
  To: gentoo-dev

One thing I find I miss in gentoo from other distros is a
changelog
of what is different from ebuild to ebuild.  Debian, I think,
has this down pat, although rpm is capable of it as well.

After (or perhaps as part of) an emerge rsync, I'd like to know
what is new, what has been removed, and the *human reasoning*
behind those decisions.

IE,

foo-1.0 removed -- superceced by foo-1.1

bar-5.3 added -- changes from bar-5.2 include:
"blah blah blah blah,
and blah
and more blah
We tried to fix this bug, and that bug.
Added optional USE support for hammer and nail capability"

etc...




^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 20+ messages in thread

end of thread, other threads:[~2005-07-28 14:00 UTC | newest]

Thread overview: 20+ messages (download: mbox.gz follow: Atom feed
-- links below jump to the message on this page --
2003-05-22 20:51 [gentoo-dev] changelogs Spundun Bhatt
2003-05-22 21:56 ` Dylan Carlson
2003-05-22 21:58   ` Spundun Bhatt
2003-05-22 22:02     ` Spundun Bhatt
2003-05-23  0:36       ` foser
2003-05-23 10:29         ` Sven Vermeulen
2003-05-23  0:41     ` foser
  -- strict thread matches above, loose matches on Subject: below --
2005-07-27  2:05 [gentoo-dev] Changelogs Alec Warner
2005-07-27  2:22 ` Georgi Georgiev
2005-07-27 14:50 ` Jason Stubbs
2005-07-28  0:02   ` Alec Warner
2005-07-28 13:58     ` Jason Stubbs
2005-07-27 16:59 ` Maurice van der Pot
2005-07-27 18:23   ` Alec Joseph Warner
2005-07-27 18:29     ` Donnie Berkholz
2003-05-22 22:31 [gentoo-dev] changelogs Rex Young
2003-05-23  6:49 ` Dylan Carlson
2001-11-05 11:26 Jon Nelson
2001-11-05 11:37 ` Grant Goodyear
2001-11-05 12:12   ` Jon Nelson

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