[gentoo-dev] making %95 of users happy

[Gaarde <gaarde@yahoo.com>]

I've notice a pattern emerging here.  OK... the pattern has existed for a
long time, but with the advent of systems ala portage that allow lusers to
keep their systems up to date with bleeding edge software... and said lusers
lack of knowledge of what they are getting into... said pattern is becoming
visable to people who don't know better.

These same people, in turn, bitch to those who do... wasting our time
reporting 'bugs' that we are already aware of.  While most of the time, said
'bugs' are out of our hands.

Examples:
Zope still using python 2.1 instead of 2.2...
xcdroast using an older version of mkisofs... 
qt, kde-libs, gnome-libs, etc all using older versions of libpng...

To me this is an issue with dependency calculations.  Gentoo will blindly
update a package regardless of what other packages depend on it.  This
solution works great for those who want to keep thier systems bleeding edge. 
However, some users are willing to make a sacrifice and go for less-bleeding
edge.  For those users, before mentioned pattern causes HUGH problems.

The fix?  In a word, sacrifice.  Give the user a choice.  Let the user decide
if they want to shoot themselves in the head by going with BLEEDING edge
(developers), or if they want to shoot themselves in the foot by using a more
cautious dependency calculation algorhythm. (lusers)

example:  Upgrading to mkisofs 1.15a21 will break xcdroast

xcdroast needs mkisofs 1.15a20
cdrecord needs mkisofs 1.15a21 (it doesn't but this is an example)

Tell the user of the conflict, and ask them which path they want to choose.

The results:  A choice in how anal the dependancy calculations are.

The goal is to ALWAYS keep the system as bleeding-edge as possible, upon user
choice, back off on certain packages to fullfill said dependancies.

At the very least, let the user know where the dependancy issues are!

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"To thine own self be true." - Shakespeare

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