Re: [gentoo-user] Why are gentoo people so in love with colorized output?!?

[Neil Bothwick <neil@digimed.co.uk>]

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On Wed, 4 Apr 2007 08:53:21 -0700, felix@crowfix.com wrote:

> > Why? all you're doing there is changing to a different default colour
> > scheme (one where all text is the same). I really don't see the point
> > in changing, when I suspect the majority prefer colours. Switching
> > colour on and off is simple enough, to why disturb the status quo?
> 
> (a) The unix standard for ages has been simple plain text output.

Please give a URL to this "standard". Not that Gentoo is Unix, so this
doesn't really apply anyway.

> (b) Switching color off is easier than you might imagine, since all of
> the following DO NOT WORK:
> 
> TERM=vt100
> |less
> NOCOLOR=true
> --nocolor
> --color=n
> editing /usr/bin/emerge to always set havecolor = 0

I have felt no need to do the latter, but all the others work for me, as
does editing /etc/portage/color.map.

> Some bright eyes linked /bin/ls against some /usr/lib library, maybe
> gpm, I forget, which made my system unbootable.  No boot partition
> command should EVER be linked outside the boot partition.

You're right, and that was a mistake made in the testing branch. If you
wish to use testing software, you should accept the fact that it will
occasionally fail a test - otherwise, what's the point?

> Some genius set up an ebuild to remove a library which /bin/lvm was
> linked against, which made my system unbootable.

Ditto. Both of these faux pas were fixed extremely promptly and didn't
reach the stable tree.

> figuring that a bug report would be lost on such feeble minds.

Insulting people who give their time for free is not the way to get
things fixed. Insulting anyone is no way to get your message across.
Provide logical bug reports and reasoned arguments if you want things
fixed. If you aren't interested in getting them fixed and just want to
let off steam and sling some mud, kindly do it elsewhere.

> Along the way, various color controls appeared, none of them working
> particularly well.  I have listed them above.  None of them work.

None of them work for you.

> Apparently the Gentoo standard is to add features without testing
> them.

Of course, that's why there is a flag to choose whether to have tested
ebuilds or those still in testing, or does that not work for you either?

> I do NOT advise friends to use gentoo, and I
> would be amazed if any business tried to use it for production.

Anyone using a testing branch, from any distro, for mission critical
production use deserves all they get.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

When there's a will, I want to be in it.

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