[gentoo-dev] Re: Expanding categories' descriptions

[Michael Palimaka <kensington@gentoo.org>]

On 1/04/2013 04:29, Denis M. wrote:
> Hello,
>
> (I was redirected from gentoo-doc@ to ask this here.)
>
> I think it's a good idea to expand the categories' descriptions (found
> in the corresponding metadata.xml files) with more accurate descriptions
> of which packages are welcome to fit in which categories.
>
> The current descriptions are very vague and aren't probably in the best
> shape to bring users' a good idea what certain category is about and
> what packages are to be found there.
>
> This can also be an issue for (new) ebuild-writers (either
> user-contributed ebuilds or just gentoo developers that are not sure0-000-p
> about it either).
> hat t
> This is of course checked by a gentoo developer if new ebuilds are to be
> submitted via the bugzilla, but I still think we should provide a better
> understanding of the categories.
>
> If expanding the metadata.xml files does not seem a good idea, we should
> at least make a little bit more comprehensive description somewhere in
> the gentoo.org/doc/ or wiki.gentoo.org pages.
>
> What do you think about it?
>
>
> Regards,
> Denis M. (Phr33d0m)
>

Sounds good to me. From time to time I see even experienced developers 
not sure as to which category a package belongs.

There is also inconsistency with packages of a certain type being spread 
over multiple categories. For example, packages containing "password 
manager" in the description currently exist in three different categories.