Re: [gentoo-user] Re: tabbed x11-terms/rxvt-unicode

[Alan McKinnon <alan.mckinnon@gmail.com>]

On Sat, 8 Oct 2011 21:09:48 +0200
Francesco Talamona <francesco.talamona@know.eu> wrote:

> On Saturday 08 October 2011, Michael Orlitzky wrote:
> > On 10/08/11 13:43, Francesco Talamona wrote:
> > > x11-terms/rxvt-unicode is one of the program I use the most, today
> > > I lost the ability to have multiple tabs and almost panicked.
> > > 
> > > I found the solution to have back this essential feature:
> > > re-enable "perl" USE flag for this package and re-emerge.
> > > 
> > > Just wanted to share my experience.
> > > HTH
> > 
> > I'm going to start a bug-filing campaign against packages like this
> > some day. The only description we ever get for use flag foo is
> > 'enable support for foo', which doesn't tell you anything at all
> > about how it affects a given package.
> > 
> > There are a number of packages with perl and python use flags where
> > disabling the use flag will silently disable essential
> > functionality. In my opinion, the use flag should simply be removed
> > rather than have what amounts to USE=make_it_work_properly.
> > 
> > I agree with the (default) removal of the perl and python flags:
> > 
> >   http://blog.jolexa.net/
> > 
> > but you should complain about packages that are basically broken
> > without them.
> 
> I'm not going to complain, though I'm willing to point out (e.g. 
> commenting on relevant bug reports) that some packages are affected
> in a bad way by this move. 
> 
> To be honest I didn't look for a solution in b.g.o because it was 
> straightforward; even if not so manifest for me the link between the 
> perl flag and the ability for rxvt to run tabbed (given that it
> doesn't give an error).
> 
> I don't want to be blunt, but your plan looks to me quite vague.
> My opinion is that some packages should have a different default.


A good plan is to give USE flags sensible names. This one describes
what the flag *is*, a good description tells you what the flag *does*.

"USE=perl" tells you squat, you don't even know what effect it will
have. You'd have to read the ebuild and the source to figure that out.

A MUCH better name is "USE=tabs" with a description like this "Provide
multiple tabs, requires perl."

It's really just a different manifestation of the #1 but in almost all
interfaces: exposing the underlying implementation in the interface.

-- 
Alan McKinnnon
alan.mckinnon@gmail.com