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Old 06-23-2012, 08:01 AM
Pacho Ramos
 
Default My wishlist for EAPI 5

El jue, 21-06-2012 a las 19:15 +0800, Patrick Lauer escribió:
> On 06/21/12 15:25, Pacho Ramos wrote:
> > El jue, 21-06-2012 a las 08:00 +0100, Ciaran McCreesh escribió:
> >> On Thu, 21 Jun 2012 08:08:55 +0200
> >> Pacho Ramos <pacho@gentoo.org> wrote:
> >>> Also, if I remember correctly, Tommy asked for this some months ago,
> >>> you asked for what he sent some days ago and now you require more and
> >>> more work to delay things to be implemented.
> >> I still haven't seen a clear description of exactly what should be
> >> changed and why. I've also not seen a description of exactly what
> >> problem is being solved, nor a discussion of the relative merits of
> >> implementing a solution to whatever that problem is. All I've seen is a
> >> mess of code that "gets it working" in Portage (which isn't the same as
> >> "implements it for Portage") and a big wall of text that contains lots
> >> that no-one needs to know and little of what's important. This needs to
> >> go through the GLEP process, and it needs a PMS diff.
> >>
> >> In case you're not aware, the first time Gentoo did multilib, it was
> >> done as a series of random changes to Portage that no-one really
> >> thought through or understood. As you can see, that didn't work...
> >>
> > Then, looks clear to me that the way to get things approved in newer
> > EAPIs is not clear enough as looks like a lot of devs (like me) don't
> > know them (for example, when things to be added to EAPI need also a GLEP
> > and a PMS diff, also the needing to get an implementation for any
> > package manager). Is this documented in some place?
> No, and this is a rather random ad-hoc requirement that hasn't been
> specified before.
>
> All previous EAPI processes went through some debate with dev-portage@
> and the other involved people (mostly pkgcore/ferringb and
> paludis/ciaranm), then the proposal got handed to council to vote on,
> and if council was happy that proposal was hammered into PMS and the new
> EAPI published. Most of the time new features had a crude approximation
> of a patch for PMS available so that the documentation updates were done
> in a timely manner.
>
> I have no idea why Ciaran is trying to redefine the process now suddenly
> and why people are taking this nonsense seriously.

I take it seriously because looks like, effectively, this is blocking
things. I remember when I first asked for an "easy" way of trying to
allow administrator of Gentoo machines to easily handling all that
needed rebuilds after updating:
https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=413619

Zac kindly pointed me to original bug:
https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=192319

I knew about that bug report but, as it was still pending after years, I
thought there were technical issues making it hard to fix and, then, I
tried to propose and easier solution at least until best one can be
implemented. Then, if you remember the thread I opened here some weeks
ago about this issue, you will see how things moved, even when Zac is
already working on getting an implementation I am really worried about,
even after Zac offering his work and time to get an implementation, when
he offers it, Ciaran will reject it with some other excuse

>
> > If not, I think it
> > should be documented and, of course, it should be done by PMS team if
> > possible as they clearly know what they expect to get for approval if
> > needed since, I discussed some days ago, council will simply accept some
> > specific features to be included in next eapi once they are accepted by
> > PMS team. That way, we could save a lot of time, know what steps are
> > pending, try to ask for help for some specific steps and, finally, get
> > it discussed in PMS people providing all what is needed.
> I would say PMS team accepts what council signs off ... or am I seeing
> the order wrong here?
>
>
> So, the normal way to get a feature into the next EAPI is ... write a
> specification to the best of your capabilities, present it here, when
> people are done bashing it ask PMS people to help you prepare a PMS
> patch so that you can suggest it to Council, and then it's mostly a
> matter of waiting until the next EAPI is finalized (which currently runs
> at a glacial pace of about one EAPI a year as far as I remember)
>
>
> Take care,
>
> Patrick
>
>
 
Old 06-23-2012, 08:19 AM
Pacho Ramos
 
Default My wishlist for EAPI 5

El jue, 21-06-2012 a las 11:27 +0200, Alec Warner escribió:
> On Thu, Jun 21, 2012 at 9:25 AM, Pacho Ramos <pacho@gentoo.org> wrote:
> > El jue, 21-06-2012 a las 08:00 +0100, Ciaran McCreesh escribió:
> >> On Thu, 21 Jun 2012 08:08:55 +0200
> >> Pacho Ramos <pacho@gentoo.org> wrote:
> >> > Also, if I remember correctly, Tommy asked for this some months ago,
> >> > you asked for what he sent some days ago and now you require more and
> >> > more work to delay things to be implemented.
> >>
> >> I still haven't seen a clear description of exactly what should be
> >> changed and why. I've also not seen a description of exactly what
> >> problem is being solved, nor a discussion of the relative merits of
> >> implementing a solution to whatever that problem is. All I've seen is a
> >> mess of code that "gets it working" in Portage (which isn't the same as
> >> "implements it for Portage") and a big wall of text that contains lots
> >> that no-one needs to know and little of what's important. This needs to
> >> go through the GLEP process, and it needs a PMS diff.
> >>
> >> In case you're not aware, the first time Gentoo did multilib, it was
> >> done as a series of random changes to Portage that no-one really
> >> thought through or understood. As you can see, that didn't work...
> >>
> >
> > Then, looks clear to me that the way to get things approved in newer
> > EAPIs is not clear enough as looks like a lot of devs (like me) don't
> > know them (for example, when things to be added to EAPI need also a GLEP
> > and a PMS diff, also the needing to get an implementation for any
> > package manager). Is this documented in some place? If not, I think it
> > should be documented and, of course, it should be done by PMS team if
> > possible as they clearly know what they expect to get for approval if
> > needed since, I discussed some days ago, council will simply accept some
> > specific features to be included in next eapi once they are accepted by
> > PMS team. That way, we could save a lot of time, know what steps are
> > pending, try to ask for help for some specific steps and, finally, get
> > it discussed in PMS people providing all what is needed.
> >
> >
> >> > I also don't understand why Gentoo is forced to stick with old ways
> >> > of doing things until new EAPI is approved
> >>
> >> That's not what's going on here. The issue is that there might be one
> >> person who understands what "the new way of doing things", but he
> >> hasn't told us what he thinks that is. Once we get a proper
> >> explanation, getting an EAPI out doesn't take long.
> >>
> >
> > But you must confess that old problems like multilib support, force
> > package rebuilding or optional dep support are still pending while still
> > needing and, the problem with the way things are discussed now is that
> > some day anybody arises the problem again, other one demands more things
> > to be provided, a discussion starts, the problem gets stalled... one
> > year later the same problem arises again. There is clearly a lack of
> > information to the rest of developers about how to propose anything to
> > get accepted for next EAPI.
>
> I'm not following you here.
>
> 1) Usually features need a reference implementation.
> 2) For portage, there are like 3-5 people who know portage well enough
> to write that for you.
> 3) You generally have to convince them to do it before you can move forward.
> 4) Most features never even get a reference implementation.
>
> There is this vague idea that you can just propose something; get
> consensus on the ML, everyone goes to implement it, and then it works
> just as designed. That is usually called the 'waterfall' model and its
> really hard to do correctly.
>
> What I imagine the process is:
>
> 1) Submit an idea to the ML; you just need feedback (not consensus,
> which is likely impossible for non-trivial ideas.)
> 1.1) Your idea could be a GLEP, but I don't think a GLEP is strictly required.
> 2) Take feedback from step one and make an initial implementation. You
> will likely find some assumptions in your 'design' from step one were
> wrong, as well as other implementation issues (UI, performance, etc.)
> 3) Modify your idea to address the problems in 2.
> 4) Modify your implementation to address the problems in 2.
> 5) Repeat steps 2-4 a few times until you have solved all the 'big' problems.
> 6) Submit a diff to PMS outlining how the package manager behavior is
> changed by your feature. This generally needs to be specific enough so
> that other package manager authors can implement the feature.
> 7) Submit a devmanual patch telling users how to use the feature.
>
> Most people fail at step two; usually because they try to get
> 'consensus' at step one, which is stupid and a waste of time. There
> are a few hundred people on this list; we will never all agree, on
> basically anything. So take the feedback people give you and do
> something with it.
>

OK thanks What I was trying to show is that this process is not clear
enough, you even need to say that you "imagine" that it's the process,
and looks pretty reasonable but, if that process is kept undocumented,
we are doomed to revive the problem again and again

About trying to get a consensus, I think it's wanted to not waste time
reimplementing things a lot of times. Think for example in ABI_SLOT
stuff, we reached some small consensus about, at least, use SLOT/SUBSLOT
approach, that will probably save a bit of time to people making the
implementation as he won't need to firstly implemente ABI_SLOT way,
later get it rejected again and, finally, re-implement it with
SLOT/SUBSLOT. The idea is to try to help people doing the huge work of
getting the implementation to save as much time as possible.

But I also understand your point as looks like usually it's really
difficult to reach consensus :/

> >
> >> The main problem here isn't even EAPI related. Ebuild developers don't
> >> even know what they'll be expected, required or able to do for multilib.
> >>
> >> > while Exherbo is free to implement and use things like that special
> >> > way of handling DEPENDENCIES without waiting for any EAPI to be
> >> > accepted...
> >>
> >> The DEPENDENCIES proposal predates Exherbo. Gentoo originally didn't
> >> have it because Portage couldn't implement it. Now it doesn't have it
> >> because it's too controversial to get it approved.
> >
> > It was only a example, but thanks for the info
> >
> >> Exherbo does have it
> >> because it was carefully discussed, compared to alternatives, planned
> >> out, tested, accepted by the expendable figurehead, and then rolled out.
> >>
> >> > or maybe I am wrong and people is able to use any PM manager
> >> > compliant with EAPI on exherbo without issues?
> >>
> >> If anyone ever manages to come up with another package mangler that can
> >> get close to implementing what Exherbo needs, then sure.
> >>
> >
> > Then, you accept exherbo is not forced to *only* follow EAPI while you
> > force Gentoo and portage to only support features approved in an EAPI?
> >
>
> Portage can use whatever EAPIs portage wishes to publish (Zac has
> published portage specific EAPIs in the past.) Generally in gentoo-x86
> you can only use council approved EAPIs; so if portage was to publish
> something like 'portage-1' you would have to get council approval to
> use it in Gentoo-x86. It seems like a reasonable request to me, why
> not talk to them about it.

Didn't know that it was allowed. Thanks a lot for the information

>
> The reason exherbo can 'do whatever they want' is because the project
> is marketed that way. Seriously, go to Exherbo.org and look at the
> 'Why' section. Reason 2 is 'we need to break stuff whenever we feel it
> is beneficial.' Gentoo is not marketed that way to our users. We
> 'generally promise' backwards compat for 6-12 months.
>
> If we randomly added stuff to portage without being bound by EAPI then
> we end up breaking stuff unintentionally all the time when rolling out
> features.
>
> -A
>
>

Well, I was more thinking on having our own "EAPIs", but I see I didn't
explain it properly in previous mail, sorry
 
Old 06-23-2012, 09:38 AM
Ciaran McCreesh
 
Default My wishlist for EAPI 5

On Sat, 23 Jun 2012 09:53:37 +0200
Pacho Ramos <pacho@gentoo.org> wrote:
> Don't you see this way of handling things, with such and obscure way
> of getting things accepted for every EAPI is really hurting us?

What is hurting is people demanding features without specifying what
the problem is, how it will be solved or what the impact on users or
developers will be, and then taking up everyone's time with complaints
when they don't get magical flying unicorns instantly.

If you want something, you either have to do the work yourself, or find
someone to do it. And here's the thing: you're assuming that "the work"
is trivial, which for some of the things you're discussing it really
isn't. The PMS wording is the trivial bit that comes at the end once
the problem and solution have been worked out.

--
Ciaran McCreesh
 
Old 06-23-2012, 09:53 AM
Peter Stuge
 
Default My wishlist for EAPI 5

Ciaran McCreesh wrote:
> What is hurting is people demanding features without specifying what
> the problem is

Part of enabling progress is to show a strong will to communicate,
with the goal of extracting common understanding from discussion.

In any project based on volunteer effort you must show that you too
are interested in giving, for anyone to give you anything.

When it's not obvious that you want to receive - to the point where
you drive the discussion (the horror!) in order to arrive at that
point of common understanding - then people will be upset and look
down on you, because dealing with you leaves too sour a taste behind.


//Peter
 
Old 06-23-2012, 10:24 AM
Pacho Ramos
 
Default My wishlist for EAPI 5

El sáb, 23-06-2012 a las 11:53 +0200, Peter Stuge escribió:
> Ciaran McCreesh wrote:
> > What is hurting is people demanding features without specifying what
> > the problem is
>
> Part of enabling progress is to show a strong will to communicate,
> with the goal of extracting common understanding from discussion.
>
> In any project based on volunteer effort you must show that you too
> are interested in giving, for anyone to give you anything.
>
> When it's not obvious that you want to receive - to the point where
> you drive the discussion (the horror!) in order to arrive at that
> point of common understanding - then people will be upset and look
> down on you, because dealing with you leaves too sour a taste behind.
>
>
> //Peter

As Peter explains, I think it is now clear enough what I was demanding
(about clarifying what is needed to get things in next EAPI to prevent
issues like Tommy is suffering to get multilib stuff done), but I star
to think Ciaran thinks it's easier to simply wear a blindfold on to keep
thinking all what he says cannot be corrected at all, neither improved
and others must follow his instructions blindly
 
Old 06-23-2012, 10:30 AM
Pacho Ramos
 
Default My wishlist for EAPI 5

El sáb, 23-06-2012 a las 12:24 +0200, Pacho Ramos escribió:
> El sáb, 23-06-2012 a las 11:53 +0200, Peter Stuge escribió:
> > Ciaran McCreesh wrote:
> > > What is hurting is people demanding features without specifying what
> > > the problem is
> >
> > Part of enabling progress is to show a strong will to communicate,
> > with the goal of extracting common understanding from discussion.
> >
> > In any project based on volunteer effort you must show that you too
> > are interested in giving, for anyone to give you anything.
> >
> > When it's not obvious that you want to receive - to the point where
> > you drive the discussion (the horror!) in order to arrive at that
> > point of common understanding - then people will be upset and look
> > down on you, because dealing with you leaves too sour a taste behind.
> >
> >
> > //Peter
>
> As Peter explains, I think it is now clear enough what I was demanding
> (about clarifying what is needed to get things in next EAPI to prevent
> issues like Tommy is suffering to get multilib stuff done), but I star
> to think Ciaran thinks it's easier to simply wear a blindfold on to keep
> thinking all what he says cannot be corrected at all, neither improved
> and others must follow his instructions blindly

Ciaran, simply think that, if PMS team agrees with a doc explaining what
needs to be provided and the procedure, you will also save time and not
need to follow this tedious discussions, all parts will benefit for
sure.
 
Old 06-23-2012, 10:31 AM
Ciaran McCreesh
 
Default My wishlist for EAPI 5

On Sat, 23 Jun 2012 12:24:32 +0200
Pacho Ramos <pacho@gentoo.org> wrote:
> As Peter explains, I think it is now clear enough what I was demanding
> (about clarifying what is needed to get things in next EAPI to prevent
> issues like Tommy is suffering to get multilib stuff done), but I star
> to think Ciaran thinks it's easier to simply wear a blindfold on to
> keep thinking all what he says cannot be corrected at all, neither
> improved and others must follow his instructions blindly

Oh come on. You're just shooting the messenger. You don't like being
told that if you want something, someone needs to do the work, and you
can't just say "I want a flying unicorn!" and expect it to happen.

I'm not the only one saying it, either. I point you to this, for
example:

http://archives.gentoo.org/gentoo-dev/msg_86b67d8ab51a24922a3d3be75d10f42b.xml

> Ciaran, simply think that, if PMS team agrees with a doc explaining
> what needs to be provided and the procedure, you will also save time
> and not need to follow this tedious discussions, all parts will
> benefit for sure.

The procedure is not the important part. The important part is finding
someone who can do enough of the work that the PMS team can understand
your proposal and polish off the rough edges. The work that needs to be
done for that is very much a case by case thing, and it's not just a
simple list of steps that anyone can follow blindly. The features
you're asking for that aren't magically appearing are hard.

I'll remind you that for "big" features, the GLEP process is already
documented.

--
Ciaran McCreesh
 
Old 06-23-2012, 10:37 AM
Duncan
 
Default My wishlist for EAPI 5

Ciaran McCreesh posted on Sat, 23 Jun 2012 10:38:33 +0100 as excerpted:

> On Sat, 23 Jun 2012 09:53:37 +0200 Pacho Ramos <pacho@gentoo.org> wrote:
>> Don't you see this way of handling things, with such and obscure way of
>> getting things accepted for every EAPI is really hurting us?
>
> What is hurting is people demanding features without specifying what the
> problem is, how it will be solved or what the impact on users or
> developers will be, and then taking up everyone's time with complaints
> when they don't get magical flying unicorns instantly.
>
> If you want something, you either have to do the work yourself, or find
> someone to do it. And here's the thing: you're assuming that "the work"
> is trivial, which for some of the things you're discussing it really
> isn't. The PMS wording is the trivial bit that comes at the end once the
> problem and solution have been worked out.

Without weighing in on either side of the technical details of this
debate, it's possible to observe two things:

1) Fact: Unfortunately, your method of argument, Ciaran, doesn't endear
you to a number of devs. Some may have the impulse to reject an argument
simply because it comes from you.

2) PMS is supposed to be about specifying things well enough that all
three PMs can implement compatible ebuild/eclass/etc interpretation and
execution.

3) Given the above, it would be of /great/ benefit to your argument if
either Zac or Brian (or preferably both) stepped up from time to time and
said yes, this is really an issue.

Not that they'd necessarily reply to everything you do, but if they could
reply once in support, such that you could refer people back to those
replies from elsewhere...

This would be of particular help concerning the multi-arch work where
there's already an implementation for portage, but it is argued a proper
spec is still lacking. Obviously if it's approved Brian's going to need
to implement it as well as you, and having him too say there's not enough
there to do so, ideally with his estimation of where the process is in
terms of work needed, as well, would go quite a long way. Similarly but
from a different angle, if Zac says that he's not satisfied with the
specification even with portage's already implementing what's there and
having it proven to work (for whatever definition of "work"), that goes
quite a way toward giving the argument for a better spec some serious
support, as well.


If you can't get those statements, then round and round the discussion
will go until people are sick, and until people simply ignore your
position and push /something/ thru, which would be a real shame if it
could be practically[1] made better, or the practical ideal of PMS ends
up getting lost in the results.

And if you /can/ get those statements, why are we still going round and
round with all this? (Again, references to said statements may be
necessary from time to time, given the quantity of posts and the
likelihood single answers in support of your position could be missed.)


[1] Practically: favorable cost/benefit ratio for the work needed.

--
Duncan - List replies preferred. No HTML msgs.
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master." Richard Stallman
 
Old 06-23-2012, 10:43 AM
Duncan
 
Default My wishlist for EAPI 5

Duncan posted on Sat, 23 Jun 2012 10:37:38 +0000 as excerpted:

> Ciaran McCreesh posted on Sat, 23 Jun 2012 10:38:33 +0100 as excerpted:
>
>
> 3) Given the above, it would be of /great/ benefit to your argument if
> either Zac or Brian (or preferably both) stepped up from time to time
> and said yes, this is really an issue.
>
> Not that they'd necessarily reply to everything you do, but if they
> could reply once in support, such that you could refer people back to
> those replies from elsewhere...

Right after posting that, I saw you mentioned the link below. Thanks.
That's exactly the sort of thing I think a lot of readers (myself
included) could use a bit more of, reminding us it's not just you.


http://archives.gentoo.org/gentoo-dev/msg_86b67d8ab51a24922a3d3be75d10f42b.xml

--
Duncan - List replies preferred. No HTML msgs.
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master." Richard Stallman
 
Old 06-23-2012, 10:44 AM
Ciaran McCreesh
 
Default My wishlist for EAPI 5

On Sat, 23 Jun 2012 10:37:38 +0000 (UTC)
Duncan <1i5t5.duncan@cox.net> wrote:
> 1) Fact: Unfortunately, your method of argument, Ciaran, doesn't
> endear you to a number of devs. Some may have the impulse to reject
> an argument simply because it comes from you.

Perhaps Gentoo should be doing more to correct the attitudes of those
developers, then.

> 2) PMS is supposed to be about specifying things well enough that all
> three PMs can implement compatible ebuild/eclass/etc interpretation
> and execution.

Not exactly. It's about making sure ebuild developers know what they
can rely upon from a package mangler.

> 3) Given the above, it would be of /great/ benefit to your argument
> if either Zac or Brian (or preferably both) stepped up from time to
> time and said yes, this is really an issue.

They already have. For example:

http://archives.gentoo.org/gentoo-dev/msg_86b67d8ab51a24922a3d3be75d10f42b.xml

> And if you /can/ get those statements, why are we still going round
> and round with all this?

That's a very good question. Why are people still blaming the PMS team
for the lack of magical appearance of flying unicorns rather than
making their case for the introduction of a horse?

--
Ciaran McCreesh
 

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