[gentoo-dev] Re: [gentoo-core] Creation of 'virtual/vi' to satisfy builds

[Aron Griffis <agriffis@gentoo.org>]

Brad Laue wrote:	[Wed Jul 09 2003, 01:00:16PM EDT]
> I'm running into builds requiring the 'ex' binary, which is provided
> by several vi clones.
> 
> I'd like to suggest the creation of 'virtual/vi' to satisfy this 
> problem. Are there any comments/objections?

In principle, I don't have a problem with this, but I have a couple
questions:

1. Does having a virtual require that only one of the options is
   installed at a time?  I recall this being the case with
   ssmtp/postfix/etc, but maybe that's specific to those ebuilds.
   I wouldn't want Gentoo to be restricted to a single vi-clone on a
   system.

2. What are the builds that require ex?  That's a pretty strange
   requirement, to be honest.  Most builds I've seen require ed for
   non-interactive editing, not ex.

3. What about the case where you install vim, then install nvi, then
   uninstall nvi?  In that case /usr/bin/ex will disappear from the
   system (because the files conflict between packages), but the virtual
   will still be "satisfied".

4. What are the ebuilds that provide ex?  At first glance, I only see
   nvi and vim.

Aron

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