From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from lists.gentoo.org ([140.105.134.102] helo=robin.gentoo.org) by nuthatch.gentoo.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1DxbL7-0004cG-83 for garchives@archives.gentoo.org; Wed, 27 Jul 2005 02:08:09 +0000 Received: from robin.gentoo.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by robin.gentoo.org (8.13.4/8.13.4) with SMTP id j6R27ITL001920; Wed, 27 Jul 2005 02:07:18 GMT Received: from egr.msu.edu (jeeves.egr.msu.edu [35.9.37.127]) by robin.gentoo.org (8.13.4/8.13.4) with ESMTP id j6R25fj1002081 for <gentoo-dev@lists.gentoo.org>; Wed, 27 Jul 2005 02:05:42 GMT Received: from [207.72.143.170] (207-72-143-170.dovers_res_net.spartan-net.net [207.72.143.170] (may be forged)) (authenticated bits=0) by egr.msu.edu (8.13.4/8.13.4) with ESMTP id j6R25odf014545 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NO) for <gentoo-dev@lists.gentoo.org>; Tue, 26 Jul 2005 22:05:54 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <42E6EBFD.5000003@egr.msu.edu> Date: Tue, 26 Jul 2005 22:05:49 -0400 From: Alec Warner <warnera6@egr.msu.edu> User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0.2 (X11/20050704) X-Accept-Language: en-us, en Precedence: bulk List-Post: <mailto:gentoo-dev@lists.gentoo.org> List-Help: <mailto:gentoo-dev+help@gentoo.org> List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:gentoo-dev+unsubscribe@gentoo.org> List-Subscribe: <mailto:gentoo-dev+subscribe@gentoo.org> List-Id: Gentoo Linux mail <gentoo-dev.gentoo.org> X-BeenThere: gentoo-dev@gentoo.org Reply-to: gentoo-dev@lists.gentoo.org MIME-Version: 1.0 To: gentoo-dev@lists.gentoo.org Subject: [gentoo-dev] Changelogs X-Enigmail-Version: 0.90.2.0 X-Enigmail-Supports: pgp-inline, pgp-mime Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Archives-Salt: b6db6da2-1bd2-4729-b55c-63ffd9970fcf X-Archives-Hash: f25015b59bb7a7fc4c78ed47af791c99 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 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 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.1 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Thunderbird - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iQIVAwUBQubrsWzglR5RwbyYAQI3dg/+KVFX4GctDzVjfhVDVDzGbx7q+T+0P+yf AYOrsoWuFWcUh2/0FDV8z2aZ1P55M/SBWKgtFmkdMOGTUD34KGTZlyWMlcswxKfO a3D43Dr1DQ6x66I2Gcf3VyHqpBgnPKgVhuNUiuFO8WD5N/W/sICLoTW415GEA7U7 jktDqrE+TDKBAdHvY2YaGD8iXZBX0zrS2v/1eeBLJ5/rSVVQfG9DICbMcRZ4lf5L B6ktoarY5xjv6raE9wlZgrkjGpd7VoSn8yRnd10ekwftAlk1JKbAn8TIttWeMmYJ 9ZgLm/ZVjxAbzfoRhHjpw1nRb2q5oOeODfZQyOvlWFpZRhvMFySsDddfGsCbC2BS Yf6pf8vKIMHRFLRSSupOl8agzHOm+CSGLHCpv+gs9sZ2eXzO2UjKqnN1VwoMO1sd AJO/z28BvjqnBFU5WsTVmAxhuvziplrLTMfZP93k2VJ3zIni7NhKsLs4rJLnYbbP xFg/Ji/YrZWwqXKFANYV2m/rw2HciKuFQzS2YmrZceAWjPz6s21m4yX6z+Hr1p+3 cu1TMIbZsg5ZA5V+nnmV1vfwW1fCLsyItOjYfv9IZi6JdupU22Lr3yR13wcUL6ZN oFt3KmgLzZLjakXiIgICvKT9ZMKBMTkfkHh4qf6cxKmPHPan3Mi+5eBXmPWZ2oGQ Q7gW3j/+Cps= =Ymtl -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- gentoo-dev@gentoo.org mailing list