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* [gentoo-dev] making %95 of users happy
@ 2002-04-18 12:25 Gaarde
  2002-04-18 18:29 ` Todd Wright
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 15+ messages in thread
From: Gaarde @ 2002-04-18 12:25 UTC (permalink / raw
  To: gentoo-dev

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!

=====
---
"To thine own self be true." - Shakespeare

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^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 15+ messages in thread
* RE: [gentoo-dev] making %95 of users happy
@ 2002-04-19 17:57 Gaarde
  2002-04-20  0:30 ` John White
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 15+ messages in thread
From: Gaarde @ 2002-04-19 17:57 UTC (permalink / raw
  To: gentoo-dev

> Perhaps this will work itself out all by itself.   When Gentoo 1.2 is
> released and the make.profile is changed to point at the default-1.2
> profile, the bleeding edgers can use that while the more conservative
> keep their link to 1.0  Thinking about it, this is probably the ultimate
> solution, its just not apparent right now since Gentoo is so young, and
> the only available option is to use the 1.0 profile. When there is a
> choice, the current version profile will be bleeding edge, while the
> previous version will only be updated with major fixes, and will become
> the "stable" release.

DISCLAIMER:  I'm intentionally being rude... it helps convey my message.
*smile*  I now return you to your regularly scheduled rant.

First and foremost, I agree with the person who stated the above %100.

Second, And I quote from the paragraph above, "its just not apparent right
now since Gentoo is so young, and the only available option is to use the 1.0
profile."

Being so young, the documentation, the sence of community, the code (albeit
in this case a 1.0 is quite nice.  Kudos guys!), everything about the Gentoo
product is NOT AS MATURE AS MORE WIDELY DISTRIBUTED DISTRIBUTIONS!  What does
7.2 mean to you?  Or 8.1?  What does 1.1 mean to you?

I guess some people just jumped head first into Gentoo without knowing what
they were getting into.  (The middle of a development cycle... that just
never ends.)

Now, Consider the previous statement a direct *POKE* at the people I refer to
as lusers.  Did they read the documentation?  Did the read the part about
profiles?  Did they bother to learn about profiles so they can start fixing
problems themselves and submit errors to http://bugs.gentoo.org ??  Do they
realize these collections of code known as packages are being written by
people NOT DEVELOPING GENTOO (some exceptions may apply)?  Do they realize
the ebuild scripts, emerge, ebuild, the installer, initscripts, etc are what
Gentoo really is?

Admittedly profiles aren't as 'slick' as they could be... but some people
just need a reality check. [end of luser rant]

When you thinking about the 'Subject: ' field of this thread... How many
users are capable of being an effective Gentoo user?  Who is the Gentoo
distributions target audience?  Now if you consider the number of people in
that target audience vs the number of people who jumped head first into
Gentoo without knowing what they were getting into...  %95 seems to me to be
about the right ratio.  Admittedly I'm just guessing.

If you want to make those users falling into the middle of a never-ending
development cycle due to ignorance, the depenancy issue (aka DLL Hell) must
be able to be presented to lusers in a manner that lusers can deal with. 
Preaching patience to those users will not get them to shut up. [end of
developer rant]

With all that being said... let the flames begin!

=====
---
"To thine own self be true." - Shakespeare

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
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^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 15+ messages in thread
* Re: [gentoo-dev] making %95 of users happy
@ 2002-04-20 18:26 Gaarde
  0 siblings, 0 replies; 15+ messages in thread
From: Gaarde @ 2002-04-20 18:26 UTC (permalink / raw
  To: gentoo-dev

On Fri, Apr 19, 2002 at 10:57:58AM -0700, Gaarde wrote:
> > DISCLAIMER:  I'm intentionally being rude... it helps convey my message.

Ah, how kind.
 
> Being so young, the documentation, the sence of community, the code (albeit
> in this case a 1.0 is quite nice.  Kudos guys!), everything about the 
Gentoo
> product is NOT AS MATURE AS MORE WIDELY DISTRIBUTED DISTRIBUTIONS!  What 
does
> 7.2 mean to you?  Or 8.1?  What does 1.1 mean to you?

Well, with people being intentionally rude, it seems like a nicely
developed and mature sense of community...
 
> I guess some people just jumped head first into Gentoo without knowing what
> they were getting into.  (The middle of a development cycle... that just
> never ends.)

Well, some people wait for a non < 1.0 release.  I know I did.

> Now, Consider the previous statement a direct *POKE* at the people I refer 
to
> as lusers.  Did they read the documentation?  

What?!?!?!  You just stated that the documentation isn't comparably
mature.  Actually, you stated that it wasn't comparably mature, and
that it's quite nice.  Or maybe it's just the code that's quite nice.
Perhaps you could clarify.  Or, being intentionally rude, perhaps you
won't.

> Did the read the part about profiles?  

In the comparably less mature documentation?  Are you talking about
the Portage Manual section 1, under Defaults, which talks about profiles
only in the context of default and auto USE variables (and not to change
make.defaults under make.profile/)?

Perhaps there's another profile documentation section which describes
how profiles should be used by the user to submit bug reports for
the current profile?  Not the Portage User Guid.  The word profile
doesn't exist there.

I think these kind of rants would be more effective with pointers
to the exact sections of documentation being referenced.  Because
as I enter my 7th day of reading gentoo docs, I'm not seeing them.

-- 
John White

Mr. White,

My point to lusers was simple.  Gentoo is young.  Thus, the documentation is
not as mature as %95 of the newer gentoo users are used to (as compared to
more mature distributions).

My point to developers was also simple.  Preaching patience does not help
users effectively use Gentoo.  Documention that does not confuse lusers,
rather educates them, is absolutely necessary at this juncture.  This will
get a lot of the lusers off the developers backs so they can do what they do
best... write code... not documentation.

I believe I made mention about the maturity of the profiles documentation,
but whereas that was not the point of my rant, maybe I did not stress it
enough.  If I did not, then I apologise for the confusion I caused you.

Here's an idea!  Help the developers help you!  Learn as much as you can with
what they give you... ask educated questions, get answers, and take notes. 
Give your notes to the developers so they know where the weeknesses in Gentoo
and the documentation there of, resides.

Will that help?  Let the flames continue.

=====
---
"To thine own self be true." - Shakespeare

__________________________________________________
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^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 15+ messages in thread

end of thread, other threads:[~2002-04-20 18:26 UTC | newest]

Thread overview: 15+ messages (download: mbox.gz follow: Atom feed
-- links below jump to the message on this page --
2002-04-18 12:25 [gentoo-dev] making %95 of users happy Gaarde
2002-04-18 18:29 ` Todd Wright
2002-04-18 19:28   ` Stefan Boresch
2002-04-19  3:25     ` Fuper
2002-04-19 12:04       ` Todd Wright
2002-04-18 22:09         ` Sherman Boyd
2002-04-19 14:15         ` Fuper
2002-04-18 19:35   ` Terje Kvernes
2002-04-19  8:42     ` Paul de Vrieze
2002-04-19  9:44       ` Terje Kvernes
2002-04-19 10:19         ` Einar Karttunen
2002-04-19 11:34           ` Mike Payson
  -- strict thread matches above, loose matches on Subject: below --
2002-04-19 17:57 Gaarde
2002-04-20  0:30 ` John White
2002-04-20 18:26 Gaarde

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