[gentoo-dev] Re: "X" vs "gtk" USE flags

[Nikos Chantziaras <realnc@arcor.de>]

On 02/08/2010 05:22 PM, AllenJB wrote:
> On 08/02/10 14:02, Nikos Chantziaras wrote:
>> On 02/08/2010 03:41 PM, AllenJB wrote:
>>> On 08/02/10 12:32, Nikos Chantziaras wrote:
>>>> On 02/08/2010 01:39 PM, Samuli Suominen wrote:
>>>>> IMHO. USE="X" is for controlling X.org dependencies, not for avoiding
>>>>> everything that deps on them, so I disagree.
>>>>
>>>> I was under the impression that USE flags are for enabling/disabling
>>>> features, not for controlling deps.  DEPEND and RDEPEND is, AFAIK, the
>>>> way to control deps.
>>>>
>>>>
>>> Features influence dependencies. If you enable kde features the package
>>> will require kde dependencies. So use flags and dependencies are
>>> irrevocably linked.
>>>
>>> What Samuli is saying is that the X flag should be specifically for X
>>> (and not X-related, such as graphical libraries) features, while the kde
>>> and gtk use flags should remain in use as they are. This way when you
>>> see "X" as a use flag, you know it means "enable X features" and isn't
>>> likely to pull in anything but X libraries, if you see "kde" you know it
>>> means "enable kde features" and isn't likely to pull in anything but kde
>>> libraries, and so on.
>>
>> So I guess what I was really proposing then was a "gui" USE flag :P
>> Sorry about that, I didn't fully understand the meaning of the X flag.
>>
>>
> And what purpose would this flag server that's not already covered by
> using USE="X fltk qt gtk kde gnome" (and possibly a couple of others
> I've forgotten about) - which are all already in the desktop profile,
> which the vast majority of people who don't care what toolkit they get
> will already be using anyway?

I'm confused.  First there's talk about HTPC people and now about people 
who have all USE flags enabled.

Why do you always have to pick the extremes?  The majority set it up 
like this:

"X kde qt4 -gnome -gtk"

and

"X gnome gtk -kde -qt4"


> The current system caters perfectly for both people who want to avoid
> specific toolkits and those who don't care what toolkits they use.

I saw a problem with using "gtk" with stuff where gtk isn't actually 
optional and what is really meant by that use flag is not "provide the 
gtk version of the GUI", but "provide the only available GUI; happens to 
be Gtk".

But since most people think that's the way to go, I'm obviously wrong. 
In any event, there's no need to continue this discussion.