On Sat, 2005-07-23 at 01:21 -0500, Manoj Srivastava wrote: > Because that information is not presented to me in aptitude, > one of the preferred front ends to package management. Once the deb > tags system gets integrated into the front ends, the long description > can stop shouldering some of the load of presenting all the > useful/relevant infdormation to the user interested in making an > informed decision.
Your criticism is valid. Indeed this is a flaw in the current proposal. But on one point, I think you have been unfair. I believe you have mistaken enthusiasm for an idea that is good, but cannot yet be fully implemented without the appropriate tools in place and the cooperation of maintainers, with a "shrill" defense of a weak proposal. The proposal does need refinement to account for pieces of the system that are not ready yet, and to clarify when package descriptions should be changed today, but it is not fundamentally flawed. I do not believe anyone in this thread has claimed that appropriate mention of the langauge appears in the description now should be removed. If I gave this misimpression, please understand this is not what I meant. I merely challenge maintainers to consciously compensate for our implementation-centric bias as developers, recognizing that users focus on utility. If those users are themselves developers, certainly implementation will be important. If they are, as a rule, not, we should think twice about including "implementation trivia" in our descriptions. I see potential for debtags to help streamline the information in our package descriptions down to the essential qualities that help a typical user decide whether or not they want to try the package. This is by no means a "dumbing down" of package descriptions. The process can start now, both with the voluntary removal by maintainers of non-essential details from their own descriptions and supporting the development of debtags. Ben -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]