From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org ([69.77.167.62] helo=lists.gentoo.org)
	by finch.gentoo.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60)
	(envelope-from <gentoo-dev+bounces-33034-garchives=archives.gentoo.org@lists.gentoo.org>)
	id 1KmgDK-0001PI-Sm
	for garchives@archives.gentoo.org; Mon, 06 Oct 2008 02:52:51 +0000
Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org (localhost [127.0.0.1])
	by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 3E299E04A7;
	Mon,  6 Oct 2008 02:52:50 +0000 (UTC)
Received: from yw-out-1718.google.com (yw-out-1718.google.com [74.125.46.158])
	by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 21A3FE04A7
	for <gentoo-dev@lists.gentoo.org>; Mon,  6 Oct 2008 02:52:50 +0000 (UTC)
Received: by yw-out-1718.google.com with SMTP id 5so413094ywm.46
        for <gentoo-dev@lists.gentoo.org>; Sun, 05 Oct 2008 19:52:49 -0700 (PDT)
Received: by 10.100.190.15 with SMTP id n15mr4270201anf.15.1223261568555;
        Sun, 05 Oct 2008 19:52:48 -0700 (PDT)
Received: by 10.100.94.12 with HTTP; Sun, 5 Oct 2008 19:52:48 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <b41005390810051952i93eafb0r5a0ca7e31a34574c@mail.gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 5 Oct 2008 19:52:48 -0700
From: "Alec Warner" <antarus@gentoo.org>
Sender: antarus@scriptkitty.com
To: gentoo-dev@lists.gentoo.org
Subject: Re: [gentoo-dev] Projects without a homepage, and valid contents of HOMEPAGE (per bug 239268)
In-Reply-To: <200810052355.43253.bangert@gentoo.org>
Precedence: bulk
List-Post: <mailto:gentoo-dev@lists.gentoo.org>
List-Help: <mailto:gentoo-dev+help@lists.gentoo.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:gentoo-dev+unsubscribe@lists.gentoo.org>
List-Subscribe: <mailto:gentoo-dev+subscribe@lists.gentoo.org>
List-Id: Gentoo Linux mail <gentoo-dev.gentoo.org>
X-BeenThere: gentoo-dev@lists.gentoo.org
Reply-to: gentoo-dev@lists.gentoo.org
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Disposition: inline
References: <20081005104420.GE15949@curie-int.orbis-terrarum.net>
	 <20081005212329.3ac8b68e@googlemail.com>
	 <200810052355.43253.bangert@gentoo.org>
X-Google-Sender-Auth: 69fbd93503bc2abb
X-Archives-Salt: 8c0d7f8f-8a0b-4e3e-aad0-e8a9792afb65
X-Archives-Hash: 8ee1c6cdc2903a5a9abc88cf80c48b91

On Sun, Oct 5, 2008 at 2:55 PM, Thilo Bangert <bangert@gentoo.org> wrote:
> Ciaran McCreesh <ciaran.mccreesh@googlemail.com> said:
>> On Sun, 5 Oct 2008 03:44:20 -0700
>>
>> "Robin H. Johnson" <robbat2@gentoo.org> wrote:
>> > Either we need special cases to declare that it no longer has a
>> > homepage, or we need to allow the empty HOMEPAGE.
>>
>> HOMEPAGE="( )"
>
> HOMEPAGE="http://this-package-has-no-homepage.gentoo.org/"
>

That would impose needless lookups on subdomains of gentoo.org for
clients trying to load the homepage.

HOMEPAGE="UNKNOWN" seems to work fine and keeps logic fairly simple:

if HOMEPAGE != "UNKNOWN"
  do_something_with_HOMEPAGE
...

The metadata API could even wrap this functionality such that packages
with no homepages could return nothing (not even UNKNOWN) or throw
some kind of error.

The only reason I would prefer UNKNOWN to Ciaran's suggestion is that
HOMEPAGE="( )" is not obvious to the majority of people (it basically
looks like a developer mis-pasted or had some other accident).

-Alec