On Monday 22 December 2008 15:43:24 Stroller wrote: > On 22 Dec 2008, at 11:33, Daniel Pielmeier wrote: > > ... > > The problem was that the dvdnav USE-flag was masked and you unmasked > > the mplayer and dvdnav packages in the first place. This did not > > affect the mplayer package that was built without dvdnav support as > > the flag was still deactivated. Here [1] is some information from the > > maintainer of mplayer. > > Yes, although I did understand this already. With apologies to Mr Wong > I find your explanation much clearer than his. > > I would prefer it if Portage handled this without USE flag masking > being necessary. If the required package is masked, or needs some > other keyword, then IMO `emerge -p mplayer` should simply give an > "unable to fulfil this USE - packages may be masked or keyworded" > error. IMO `emerge mplayer` should simply install the package without > fulfilling the USE. But clearly there are reasons why this is > impractical.
Not so much impractical, more like it's a very bad idea. Portage runs on unix systems. Of all the basic fundamental ways unix has of going about things, this one should never be broken: The machine will do what the admin said it must do. It will do no more and no less. An active USE means that the admin wants packages built with that support. The admin's wishes are very explicit in this regard, there is nothing implied about it. So if the USE cannot be fulfilled, the only appropriate answer is "I'm sorry, I cannot do that" and end with an error code. -- alan dot mckinnon at gmail dot com
