On 08/06/2019 19:11, Adam Weinberger wrote:
Hello everyone,
I want to get some stakeholder input on our pkg-message files. I think
we need to have a clear policy about what does and doesn't belong in
them, and I'd like to get your input.
pkg-message is shown to every user on every install. UPDATING is only
shown when users run `pkg updating` *and* /usr/ports/UPDATING exists.
I suspect that only a small proportion of users do that.
pkg-message needs to contain only highly relevant information. Many,
many ports have messages with irrelevant information that users are
likely to get message fatigue and ignore them entirely. I don't want
to pick on Joe Barbish, because his work is absolutely fantastic, but
dns/dns2blackhole/pkg-message is an example of a giant message that
tells users to do the same thing they always do for any port:
########################################################################
dns2blackhole
Malware Prevention through Domain Blocking (Black Hole)
Issue "man dns2blackhole" For configuration and usage information
########################################################################
We now have the ability to specify messages that appear on initial
install, or on upgrades from/to specific version. So here is what I
propose as policy:
pkg-message must contain only information that is vital to setup and
operation, and that is unique to the port in question. Setup
information should only be shown on initial install, and upgrade
instructions should be shown only when upgrading to the relevant
version. All committers have blanket approval to constrain existing
messages to install/upgrade ranges using the UCL format
specifications. Message pruning falls under the blanket approval as
well, but committers are encouraged to get maintainer input
beforehand.
<<<
What are your thoughts?
# Adam
I don't like the approach of separating install from update messages. It
only works in the ideal scenario, which is almost never. Two reasons:
1. Very rarely I have time to configure all package requirements when
installing a bunch of packages. I usually configure a few most important
ones and leave the rest for later. Then I need to remember to re-read
whatever requirements they might have had.
2. Very rarely just adding packages to the system works. From adding
flavours, to removing KDE4, to renaming packages, etc. There is always
something going on and almost every time I try to upgrade all packages
in the system because of various problems I end up reinstalling all of
them anyway (pkg upgrade -f).
In either case update messages don't matter. In my opinion there should
be just one short message shown when either upgrading or installing. If
there are any specific instructions applicable when only installing or
upgrading then it's safer to show in both cases with info in what
condition they are applicable.
When installing packages with many dependencies a typical user isn't
even aware which packages have been added / installed and which have
been updated. Why make the life more complicated than it needs to be?
GrzegorzJ
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