On Fri, Feb 25, 2005 at 11:38:53AM +0100, Martin Costabel wrote: > In fink-0.23.5-1, when the gcc3.1.pkg was not installed and a package > was to be built that had a BuildDepends: gcc3.1, one got the short and > unclear, but clearly visible error message > > >Failed: Can't resolve dependency "gcc3.1" for package "prcs-1.3.2-1" (no > >matching packages/versions found) > > and the build process stopped right there before it even started.
...and then the user is completely stuck, as we well know from reading the lists. > Now in fink-0.24.0, one gets a different behavior: fink pretends to > try to install gcc3.1 which fails, of course, and there is a more > verbose error message which, however, gets drowned in a pile of > garbage admin messages. The behavior is unreasonable and the > message is no longer user-understandable Wha? It says what's wrong in both technical and lay language: > >Package gcc3.1 is an autogenerated virtual package. > >You cannot manipulate this type of package using the usual Fink tools. and where to go to learn how to solve the problem: > >Read the detailed description of this package to learn how to use it. > (and the first complaint appeared already on the users list): If a user isn't going to read the msg and do what it says, is he likely to figure out what to do when confronted with the old error? The new behavior helps users help themselves. Some will be helped. Others will just throw up their hands "I have an error!" in all cases regardless of how explicit we make the error message. dan -- Daniel Macks [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.netspace.org/~dmacks ------------------------------------------------------- SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=6595&alloc_id=14396&op=click _______________________________________________ Fink-devel mailing list Fink-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/fink-devel
