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mikki
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Joined: 14 Jul 2002
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 Posted: Fri Jul 19, 2002 6:46 am Post subject: Package descriptions and change logs |
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Maybe I just missed this along the way, and sorry if it's been answered before, but is there somewhere that one can see a description of a package before emerging it, and/or a changelog for version changes?
I would be much more comfy pulling in dependent packages if I knew what they were (or not have to go to Google, or RedHat).
Same with upgrades. Why should I upgrade all these things? What's my motivation Mr. DeMille? I just had to go through 18 /etc files for an --update system. No biggie, but I would like to be able to know when it's worth it to go through the trouble...
TIA!
Mikki
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quadbox
Tux's lil' helper
Joined: 11 Jun 2002
Posts: 94
Location: Brisbane, Australia
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| Posted: Fri Jul 19, 2002 6:51 am Post subject: Re: Package descriptions and change logs |
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| mikki wrote: | Maybe I just missed this along the way, and sorry if it's been answered before, but is there somewhere that one can see a description of a package before emerging it, and/or a changelog for version changes?
I would be much more comfy pulling in dependent packages if I knew what they were (or not have to go to Google, or RedHat).
Same with upgrades. Why should I upgrade all these things? What's my motivation Mr. DeMille? I just had to go through 18 /etc files for an --update system. No biggie, but I would like to be able to know when it's worth it to go through the trouble...
TIA!
Mikki
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You can get a description of a package two ways : $qpkg -i foo, or $emerge -s foo. Emerge -s, lists the version installed, and the latest version.
As to updates, Most people (in my view, at least) run gentoo because they want a bleeding edge system. If this doesn't sound like you, then only update when you want to. |
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rac
Bodhisattva
Joined: 30 May 2002
Posts: 6553
Location: Japanifornia
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| Posted: Fri Jul 19, 2002 6:59 am Post subject: Re: Package descriptions and change logs |
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| mikki wrote: | | a changelog for version changes? |
There should be a ChangeLog file in the same directory as the ebuild itself somewhere underneath /usr/portage.
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mikki
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Joined: 14 Jul 2002
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| Posted: Fri Jul 19, 2002 1:32 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks, the ChangeLogs look pretty complete, just what I was looking for, and they look like they are available before the emerge.
As far as the emerge -s goes, the descriptions there are pretty weak. Fine for just a tickler, but not if it is an unfamiliar package.
| Quote: | | As to updates, Most people (in my view, at least) run gentoo because they want a bleeding edge system. If this doesn't sound like you, then only update when you want to. |
Well, there are at least two other advantages, control over what goes into your system, and a high level of customization/system-specificity.
For the former, knowing the details of each package going in is pretty key, IMO. Now, I can guess most of them from context or experience, but I'm not up to date on every single one, so when something shows up on a dependency list, I'd like to know a bit more about it than a one-liner from emerge -s. OK, so I could read the code, I suppose  , but I was hoping for something in between.
Perhaps a README that is maintained alongside ChangeLog, and rsynced to /usr/portage in the same way. More work for the package maintainers, but my guess is that 90% of them already have one anyway...
But that's just me, I could be wrong...
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rac
Bodhisattva
Joined: 30 May 2002
Posts: 6553
Location: Japanifornia
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| Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2002 12:48 am Post subject: |
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| mikki wrote: | | I'd like to know a bit more about it than a one-liner from emerge -s. |
Most ebuilds have something useful in the HOMEPAGE variable, and if you're lazy (like me), perhaps you will enjoy this little one-liner: | Code: | #! /bin/sh
qpkg -nc -i $1 | perl -e 'while(<>) { /\[\s*(\S+)\s*\]/ and ++$urls{$1} } print map { "$_\n" } keys %urls' |
...which, when given a package name, will spit out some URLs suitable for pasting into your favorite browser, backticking and feeding to lynx, etc.
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mikki
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| Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2002 2:28 am Post subject: |
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Nice one, rac. Thanks!
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