[gentoo-dev] packages without homepages

[gentoo-dev] packages without homepages

[Matthias Langer]

After reading the response for bug 118607, which i filed, i was
woundering if there isn't a more appropriate default procedure for
packages with no homepages then just leaving the invalid 'homepage-link'
alone ... Shouldn't there be a way to tell portage that a certain
package simply doesn't have a homepage ?
Matthias

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[gentoo-dev] Re: packages without homepages

[Duncan]

Matthias Langer posted <1136952512.5741.5.camel@sputnik886.ruz-net>,
excerpted below,  on Wed, 11 Jan 2006 05:08:31 +0100:

> After reading the response for bug 118607, which i filed, i was woundering
> if there isn't a more appropriate default procedure for packages with no
> homepages then just leaving the invalid 'homepage-link' alone ...
> Shouldn't there be a way to tell portage that a certain package simply
> doesn't have a homepage ? Matthias

There was a recent thread on this, probably a month or two ago.  Various
devs offered various suggestions, most of which they've been using in
packages they maintain.  Apparently repoman complains if the variable
isn't there, so devs simply put "none" or "" or "http://www.gentoo.org"
or their dev page address as the homepage.  Again, look around, you'll see
these "solutions" and others, such as leaving the stale address in place
as in the case at hand.  There's was no single standard solution agreed
to, as it appeared no one was sufficiently interested to push one,
figuring more important things, like squashing real functionality bugs,
was more important, with the limited time every Gentoo dev has, being they
are all volunteers.

-- 
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and if you use the program, he is your master."  Richard Stallman in
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Re: [gentoo-dev] Re: packages without homepages

[Paul de Vrieze]

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On Wednesday 11 January 2006 05:54, Duncan wrote:
> Matthias Langer posted <1136952512.5741.5.camel@sputnik886.ruz-net>,
>
> excerpted below,  on Wed, 11 Jan 2006 05:08:31 +0100:
> > After reading the response for bug 118607, which i filed, i was
> > woundering if there isn't a more appropriate default procedure for
> > packages with no homepages then just leaving the invalid
> > 'homepage-link' alone ... Shouldn't there be a way to tell portage
> > that a certain package simply doesn't have a homepage ? Matthias
>
> There was a recent thread on this, probably a month or two ago. 
> Various devs offered various suggestions, most of which they've been
> using in packages they maintain.  Apparently repoman complains if the
> variable isn't there, so devs simply put "none" or "" or
> "http://www.gentoo.org" or their dev page address as the homepage. 
> Again, look around, you'll see these "solutions" and others, such as
> leaving the stale address in place as in the case at hand.  There's was
> no single standard solution agreed to, as it appeared no one was
> sufficiently interested to push one, figuring more important things,
> like squashing real functionality bugs, was more important, with the
> limited time every Gentoo dev has, being they are all volunteers.

Better solution is to use something like the freshmeat directory, or if 
possible the directory of the webserver/ftp server where the packages get 
released.

Paul

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Paul de Vrieze
Gentoo Developer
Mail: pauldv@gentoo.org
Homepage: http://www.devrieze.net

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Re: [gentoo-dev] packages without homepages

[Mark Loeser]

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Matthias Langer <mlangc@gmx.at> said:
> After reading the response for bug 118607, which i filed, i was
> woundering if there isn't a more appropriate default procedure for
> packages with no homepages then just leaving the invalid 'homepage-link'
> alone ... Shouldn't there be a way to tell portage that a certain
> package simply doesn't have a homepage ?

It'd be nice to get a decision on this.  repoman complains, but the dev manual
says that DESCRIPTION and HOMEPAGE are required (except in unique
circumstances).  I don't see why we can't just say they are always required.
Something should _always_ have a description, and if a package has no
HOMEPAGE, I think putting "none" in there is better than leaving it blank.

I'm trying to go around and clean up all of the stuff repoman is complaining
about, and there are quite a few of these, so I'd like to know how to handle
them.  We need to either make repoman not complain if HOMEPAGE="" is supposed
to be valid, or put "none" in there if necessary.

-- 
Mark Loeser   -   Gentoo Developer (cpp gcc-porting toolchain x86)
email         -   halcy0n AT gentoo DOT org
                  mark AT halcy0n DOT com
web           -   http://dev.gentoo.org/~halcy0n/
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