On Sat, 8 Oct 2011 21:09:48 +0200 Francesco Talamona <francesco.talam...@know.eu> 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.mckin...@gmail.com
