From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org ([208.92.234.80] helo=lists.gentoo.org) by finch.gentoo.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1PIqhx-0000Z5-BL for garchives@archives.gentoo.org; Wed, 17 Nov 2010 22:42:29 +0000 Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with SMTP id C1317E07D6; Wed, 17 Nov 2010 22:42:26 +0000 (UTC) Received: from mail-ey0-f181.google.com (mail-ey0-f181.google.com [209.85.215.181]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 86836E07D6 for ; Wed, 17 Nov 2010 22:42:26 +0000 (UTC) Received: by eyb6 with SMTP id 6so1835867eyb.40 for ; Wed, 17 Nov 2010 14:42:26 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:received:received:from:to:subject:date :user-agent:references:in-reply-to:mime-version:content-type :content-transfer-encoding:message-id; bh=ar2P4kvHbmjTHbe9f0dkg4/RpIdm7i+qU7b8KvMIr4Y=; b=fbtmJl27Mjw675rChdpAmZUnvNShQEJ+zNE+6wqri7W8+KneYgvk+LN/v3p/8sQwAO O8/W/D7pkoVCOJSX/5zfm7+GtvYgpmq36nd2QkklBPcQFrThV2lSIzM254GY+zYPeGXl ZI9h7PzXjt0fyqkHNVkj2MUAjLTS2DVqYZHzM= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=from:to:subject:date:user-agent:references:in-reply-to:mime-version :content-type:content-transfer-encoding:message-id; b=bO6h/wqqMHYqw1H+Fgeerx4yRcx7o7U2PrUOTwjfYGwVchli/m2WqP9C5JxeWCdH2g ICUISvYk1SXW2rVy7r+i9jYDS2/ygg0JXfxoOp1egCze+dDVl/sxtOOboueVwXaZYAfO ceTBlY5TRDBaaFA7LXYGIyUZ2t3uoo+PGKEAk= Received: by 10.213.7.145 with SMTP id d17mr1655737ebd.64.1290033745883; Wed, 17 Nov 2010 14:42:25 -0800 (PST) Received: from nazgul.localnet (196-210-238-14.dynamic.isadsl.co.za [196.210.238.14]) by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id b52sm2726101eei.1.2010.11.17.14.42.24 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=RC4-MD5); Wed, 17 Nov 2010 14:42:25 -0800 (PST) From: Alan McKinnon To: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] Re: How to configure thochpad sensitivity (using hal)? Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2010 00:42:52 +0200 User-Agent: KMail/1.13.5 (Linux/2.6.36-ck; KDE/4.5.3; x86_64; ; ) References: <20101117192256.38fc08d0@digimed.co.uk> In-Reply-To: Precedence: bulk List-Post: List-Help: List-Unsubscribe: List-Subscribe: List-Id: Gentoo Linux mail X-BeenThere: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Reply-to: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: Text/Plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Message-Id: <201011180042.53264.alan.mckinnon@gmail.com> X-Archives-Salt: a962caef-ac53-48f9-a09e-aa6a0ebfe4fa X-Archives-Hash: c0312913b7b63b37f9b1f044f5ebd2b7 Apparently, though unproven, at 23:18 on Wednesday 17 November 2010, Grant Edwards did opine thusly: > > No, but they generally set the USE defaults to give the same settings > > as running ./configure with none. In other words, they are following > > the upstream defaults. > > We seem to be going around in circles. :) > > The merits of using HAL for Xorg config aside, I am still curious > about where the "default" configuration for a package comes from. Is > there a written policy somewhere that tells devs how to set the > default USE flags? All the clues are in http://devmanual.gentoo.org/index.html but it requires a gigantic dose of brain smarts and think-for-yourself. Developers of any sort have to be in the upper-IQ range of humanity (otherwise they couldn't develop shit) so this is a fairly safe assumption. You will notice that the tree contains relatively few Gentoo-maintained patch files (compared to say Ubuntu and Red Hat). Gentoo prefers to get patches from upstream or some other distro. The manual is full of references to get patches and bugs registered and fixed upstream instead of in the tree. Now, the only sane way this could work in a sane ecosystem is to track upstream as close as possible while not breaking things. An ebuild maintainer sets the USE flags in whatever suitable way {,s}he feels like to make that come about. The entire spirit in which the manual is written communicates that concept strongly. Very little of this is documented in an idiot-tree do-this-now-do-that fashion because: a. our devs are not idiots. b. our devs are assumed to have smarts upstairs. c. our devs are assumed to only pretend to be pedantic geeky gits who nit-pick about words, and not to actually *be* like that their entire life 24/7/365/75. In other words, they can think with a concept and not need instructions. d. they do not need a manual to know how to breathe either. Same principle. -- alan dot mckinnon at gmail dot com