It would seem there is a good support for a change to enable all protocols by default. What will change this issue from a good thread to an action on the package to implement these ideas?
Another suggestion brought to me by an upstream dev was that Pidgin is configured to install all protocols by default. If the required libraries for a protocol is missing, ie: gadu, zephyr, silc, bonjour, then Pidgin builds/runs fine and that protocol isn't available for the user to use. Not wanting to alienate those who use these protocols, but they aren't very common to begin with, so this will only apply to a small sample of users. So a warning could be put in the ewarn saying that if you want there protos you have to install their required libs. I don't think this is a bad idea. I've seen a few packages do that before. This way we don't pull in unwanted dependencies. This could be coupled with the idea of negative USE flags, though nasty and unwanted, I think like someone mentioned a bit earlier, they stand out and are more effective when it comes to this type of situation involving defaults. Summary: 1. Switch all USE flags to negative USE flags. 2. Don't install deps for protocols (maybe still install SSL) 3. Put a message in the ewarn about missing libs for extra protos. Once again, how does this thread move to action on the package? Can I call "Question"? ;) Thanks, Eric On 7/20/07, Jim Ramsay <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
fire-eyes wrote: > Duncan wrote: > > OTOH, if enabling those protocols pulls in all sorts of additional > > packages to support them, shipping with everything on just because > > it's possible is not the Gentoo way. That's what USE flags are > > for. If indeed additional dependencies are pulled in, IMO the USE > > flags should remain, and maybe someone needs to explain the Gentoo > > way to upstream. > > ++; from a user. I prefer to leave them off. However I can understand > the other sides point of view, too. I believe one of the main philosophies of Gentoo is to try to have an app be as close to upstream as possible. I personally believe that this means the we should try to enable enough USE flags by default that it is roughly equivalent to running upstream's './configure' with no arguments. USE flags then give the advanced user the ability to disable those features normally on, or enable those features normally off, but we want a freshly installed package by default to "just work"[1] and to be "as close to upstream as possible"[2]. With this in mind, enabling most of the default protocols makes sense to me. [1] http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/devrel/handbook/handbook.xml?part=3&chap=1#doc_chap1 [2] looking for actual references to this, but couldn't find it... I think it's _somewhere_ in the required new-developer reading... -- Jim Ramsay Gentoo/Linux Developer (rox,gkrellm)
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