On Fri, 11 Feb 2005 09:59:56 -0500 (EST)
Todd Vierling <tv@duh.org> wrote:

> On Fri, 11 Feb 2005, Greg A. Woods wrote:
>=20
> > The whole idea of trying to give a common name to some alternative
> > package with a scheme like pkg_alternatives is totally bogus from the
> > get go.
>=20
> Maybe to you, but not to a lot of users.  It helps system maintenance tas=
ks
> that otherwise would require...
>=20
> > login shell features or similar.
>=20
> ...something which is nice to automate.  I was skeptical at first, too, b=
ut
> after deploying it on a few heterogeneous systems myself, I'm hooked.
>=20
> --=20
> -- Todd Vierling <tv@duh.org> <tv@pobox.com>

> jmmv wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> I've been working on an alternatives system for pkgsrc, similar to that
> found in Debian.  It is not ready yet, but before continuing its
> development, I'd like to ask for comments here (mainly if you agree to
> this proposal or not).  (Before thinking "ugh, linux stuff", keep
> reading ;).

I think that a new user or an average user, or any kind of unix user, has t=
he
need to know the difference between vi and vim. And definitely "alternative=
s" is=20
not a flattery for the people who knows the difference between vi and vim (=
who=20
are the most people here, I believe).

>Subject: Alternatives system for pkgsrc
>From: "Julio M. Merino Vidal" <jmmv84(-at-)gmail.com>
"
Aside changes to the Makefiles, there is also a tool, named
pkg_alternatives.  It is used to manage the alternatives database at
(de)installation time and to change the defaults.  It is a short shell
script.
"
Short, long, who cares? should it be accepted because it is short?

"
When a package is removed, the alternatives system checks if it was
the current setting for a class; in such case, it tries to fall back
to another one in the same class.  If none is found, the class is
automatically removed.

The register and unregister actions described above are internal and
should not be manipulated by the end user.
"

Please stop putting interfaces in front of users' faces, you evil guy. You=
=20
should be punished.

At the first read I expected this stuff to die. It has been getting too far.

C=E9sar

There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to
make is so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the
other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious
deficiencies.
                -- C. A. R. Hoare

Never make anything simple and efficient when a way can be found to
make it complex and wonderful.
		-- /usr/games/fortune