[gentoo-dev] Re: new developer Joshua Nichols (nichoj)

[Duncan <1i5t5.duncan@cox.net>]

Petteri Räty posted <43839B31.2050005@gentoo.org>, excerpted below,  on
Wed, 23 Nov 2005 00:26:57 +0200:

> Jochen Maes wrote:
>> Hello all,
>> 
>> 
> 
>> I'd appreciate a nice welcome and a descent slap on the butt when you
>> pass him...
>> 
>> Joshua, welcome!
>> 
>> 
>> 
> http://tinyurl.com/n9qb
> I hope to see this list near hundred soon!

OK, this is a gripe of mine, so...

1)  There's only the tinyurl, no indication at all of where it actually
points, or what the "list" is!  Surely, a bit of a description might be
useful.  Something like "(buglist of <whatever>)".  (I'm composing this
having gone to the URL but still have no idea of what <whatever> is,
because there's no title and the URL is too long to easily figure out
what's being searched on.)

2) The URL actually pointed to is:
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?query_format=&short_desc_type=allwordssubstr&short_desc=&long_desc_type=substring&long_desc=&bug_file_loc_type=allwordssubstr&bug_file_loc=&keywords_type=allwords&keywords=&bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&emailassigned_to1=1&emailtype1=exact&email1=java%40gentoo.org&emailassigned_to2=1&emailreporter2=1&emailqa_contact2=1&emailcc2=1&emailtype2=substring&email2=&bugidtype=include&bug_id=&votes=&changedin=&chfieldfrom=&chfieldto=Now&chfieldvalue=&cmdtype=doit&order=Reuse+same+sort+as+last+time&field0-0-0=noop&type0-0-0=noop&value0-0-0=

Obviously that's waaayyyy... too long to be of much use, so a tinyurl is
appreciated.  However, a lot of those query substrings are empty or the
default or otherwise unneeded.  Trimming the cruft should result in a
far shorter URL that actually conveys a bit of information.  With a URL of
this lenth, the easiest way to do that is to paste the URL into an editor
and trim from there.  Trim a bit, then try the link to see if it still
works, then trim some more...

Here's what I came up with after a bit of trial and error.  Note that the
original URL poster, knowing what he's after and thus knowing which fields
are likely to be relevant, could have done the same with rather less
trouble.

http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&emailassigned_to1=1&emailtype1=exact&email1=java%40gentoo.org

Still not short, so a tinyurl is still useful, but /far/ shorter than the
above, and it's actually possible to see what this one is looking for:

a) bugstatus=NEW/ASSIGNED/REOPENED

and 

b) emailassigned_to=java@gentoo.org (exact match).

OK, how much easier would it have been to just post this:

List of open bugs assigned to java@:
http://tinyurl.com/<whatever>


Note also that some don't like clicking on blind URLs, even with
descriptions.  Thus, optionally:

List of open bugs assigned to java@:
http://tinyurl.com/<whatever> (points to)
http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&emailassigned_to1=1&emailtype1=exact&email1=java%40gentoo.org

That way, both those who don't want to trust a blind link, and those that
are reading the list on long-url munging clients, have a link to click. 
Further, even if the long URL ends up munged, it's possible to see what it
is, and to reassemble it, if desired.

-- 
Duncan - List replies preferred.   No HTML msgs.
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master."  Richard Stallman in
http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/pub/a/linux/2004/12/22/rms_interview.html


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