[gentoo-dev] [PATCH 0/1] [RFC] greadme.eclass

[Florian Schmaus <flow@gentoo.org>]

I really like the functionality of readme.gentoo-r1.eclass, as it
allows to communicate Gentoo-specific information about a package to
the user. Especially as it improves the signal-to-noise ratio of
messages arriving to our users.

However, readme.gentoo-r1.eclass will only show this information on
new installs, but not if the information changed. This is a major
drawback. Furthermore, readme.gentoo-r1.eclass does not provide an API
to assemble the information via heredoc.

The following patch includes a new eclass named "greadme", that
addresses those shortcomings of readme.gentoo-r1.eclass and hopefully
can be seen as a general overhaul.

This is a first draft of the eclass and therefore I'd like to ask for
feedback.

The greadme.eclass contains some TODO items at the end of its
@DESCRIPTION.

The main item is doc compression. Right now, greadme.eclass defaults
to add the readme doc to the compression exclusion list via
"docompress -x". A mode where the readme doc is compressed, just as
readme.gentoo-r1.eclass does, can be activated by setting
_GREADME_COMPRESS. However, I believe this mode is fragile as it can
not be guaranteed that a binary for the used compression algorithms is
installed on the host [1].

I believe it is reasonable to simply install the readme doc
uncompressed, since they are typically only a few lines long. However,
if anyone can point out a way to achieve the desired functionality with
a compressed readme doc, then please let me know.

Thanks for reviewing the eclass.

Florian Schmaus (1):
  greadme.eclass: new eclass

 eclass/greadme.eclass | 281 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 281 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 eclass/greadme.eclass

-- 
2.41.0