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 1RCcWa-000180-Qu for garchives@archives.gentoo.org; Sat, 08 Oct 2011 19:25:33 +0000 Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 7EEC621C0B2; Sat, 8 Oct 2011 19:25:19 +0000 (UTC) Received: from mail-wy0-f181.google.com (mail-wy0-f181.google.com [74.125.82.181]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 353B221C0B2 for ; Sat, 8 Oct 2011 19:24:05 +0000 (UTC) Received: by wyf19 with SMTP id 19so6282060wyf.40 for ; Sat, 08 Oct 2011 12:24:05 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=date:from:to:subject:message-id:in-reply-to:references:organization :x-mailer:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding; bh=+rcwFhx36POHLdGuTDq/ASf+eUcpsLdy+KcXBHFHgfM=; b=oI70t3NqYH77VxkWzbgH9bdbGykFkaiD86dfl+YBZNKAOGq7xlzOP1CJwUQGV3guSi PFsE83p6lDtiuHxtU/GgS6KP4OSYcetfUtklDlVZRm3s1lc6ZtGiSW2TRSoIfTVhuiqL St7qe4u5Q84+CsLCJZ6odQIAOHRgkEpLebdyg= Received: by 10.227.24.11 with SMTP id t11mr487018wbb.75.1318101844470; Sat, 08 Oct 2011 12:24:04 -0700 (PDT) Received: from rohan.example.com ([196.215.144.38]) by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id s30sm23174816wbm.12.2011.10.08.12.24.01 (version=SSLv3 cipher=OTHER); Sat, 08 Oct 2011 12:24:03 -0700 (PDT) Date: Sat, 8 Oct 2011 21:23:57 +0200 From: Alan McKinnon To: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] Re: tabbed x11-terms/rxvt-unicode Message-ID: <20111008212357.58e71946@rohan.example.com> In-Reply-To: <201110082109.48249.francesco.talamona@know.eu> References: <201110081943.47765.francesco.talamona@know.eu> <4E9099E9.9050301@orlitzky.com> <201110082109.48249.francesco.talamona@know.eu> Organization: Internet Solutions X-Mailer: Claws Mail 3.7.8 (GTK+ 2.24.4; x86_64-pc-linux-gnu) 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=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Archives-Salt: X-Archives-Hash: f88172aa8d5c04f3087ead9830f8e529 On Sat, 8 Oct 2011 21:09:48 +0200 Francesco Talamona 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