Re: [gentoo-dev] Inconsistent use of || preferences for www-client/elinks, links, lynx, w3m, and w3mmee

[Zac Medico <zmedico@gentoo.org>]

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On 2/9/20 10:44 PM, Michał Górny wrote:
> On Sun, 2020-02-09 at 22:30 -0800, Zac Medico wrote:
>> Hi all (especially package owners in CC),
>>
>> In various packages we have inconsistent use of || preferences for
>> www-client/elinks, links, lynx, w3m, and w3mmee. This means that the
>> default preference depends on the combination of packages that one has
>> installed and the order that one has installed them, leading to
>> unpredictable results.
>>
>> Here is a list of relevant packages and their dependencies:
>>
>> app-text/docbook-sgml-utils: || ( www-client/lynx www-client/links
>> www-client/elinks virtual/w3m )
>> app-text/sgmltools-lite: || ( www-client/w3m www-client/lynx )
>> app-text/xmlto: || ( virtual/w3m www-client/lynx www-client/elinks )
>> dev-lang/mono: || ( www-client/links www-client/lynx )
>> mail-client/mutt: || ( www-client/lynx www-client/w3m www-client/elinks )
>> mail-client/neomutt: || ( www-client/lynx www-client/w3m www-client/elinks )
>> net-irc/irssi: || ( www-client/lynx www-client/elinks )
>> sys-fs/gt5: || ( www-client/links www-client/elinks www-client/lynx )
>> x11-base/xorg-server: || ( www-client/links www-client/lynx www-client/w3m )
>>
>> How about if we create some more virtuals to cover all of the relevant
>> cases?
> 
> I don't think that's a valid case for a virtual since those tools do not
> provide a consistent API for other packages.  It just happens that some
> packages explicitly support multiple choices, and this is exactly what
> || indicates.
> 
> The virtuals would really be arbitrary here.  Developers would
> repeatedly fail to use them because they wouldn't naturally expect
> the virtual to exist.

In that case, I suppose we'll have to apply consistency manually? Can we
all agree on a global order of preference for the relevant packages?
-- 
Thanks,
Zac


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