[Debtags-devel] Re: Recent progress

Hervé Eychenne rv@eychenne.org
Fri, 11 Mar 2005 01:47:58 +0100


On Thu, Mar 10, 2005 at 08:34:57PM +0000, Thaddeus H. Black wrote:

> > While it would be good to have plenty of tools for
> > browsing, I think it would be an error to let tag
> > maintainers use different possibly inefficient or
> > inconsistent tools for tag editions/additions.  The
> > best approach would be a Web interface.  While other
> > UIs could perfectly be imagined, it would be a pity to
> > scatter efforts in the first place.

> Personally, I tend to avoid Web interfaces when I can

So do I. :-)

> (note to Benjamin: personally, I use neither KDE nor
> Gnome, nor usually even X).

Oh, a console integrist. ;-)

> If other people like Web
> interfaces (or KDE or Gnome or X), this is fine,

It's not about liking it or not, it's currently the only type of UI
that is accessible without installing anything (except a Web browser,
but everyone is supposed to have one).

> but the two interfaces I would personally prefer to use would be

>   1. a plain e-mail interface, as has the Debian BTS;
>   and

>   2. eventually, for the package maintainer's use,
>   a "Tags:" field in debian/control.

> Maybe I am typical; maybe not.  I do not know.  However,
> my question is, would such simple traditional interfaces
> spoil the plan in your view?

I just think that having plenty of UIs with almost none of them
working correctly (my favorite example used to be the Jabber
clients) is just stupid.  But _once_ some kind of reference UI
actually exists, I have nothing against other UIs.
While freedom is essential, it's ofter a little disappointing
to see concurrent and redundant efforts, without any getting
the job actually really done.

> Would they ruin something important, defeat some elegance?

No, but they would certainly be a lot less user-friendly, and
their rustic character and lack of ergonomy would certainly
make a the tag maintainance harder.  But as long as you're fine
and can deal with that...

> I knew that Erich had
> created a Web interface, but it never occurred to me
> that the Web interface might be the only interface.

Not obligatorily the only one, but probably the most practical.
Frankly, I like X11 app better (there much more ergonomic), but:
- they are harder to write
- they run on the client side, so they must be installed (sometimes
  hard to ensure) and they must send the changes to a repository
- they are often associated to some graphical toolkit war
So a Web interface is probably simpler in the first place.

> I had always sort of assumed that, if I did not like the
> interface, I could just script another interface which
> suited me better.

I agree with that.

> If what you mean is, "It would be an error to let tag
> maintainers use too many complex, novel, possibly
> inefficient or inconsistent tools for tag
> editions/additions," then I think that you make a valid
> point, and I would tend to agree with you.  Is this what
> you mean?

Yes.

> As a package maintainer, I really would
> prefer an e-mail interface, and better yet a "Tags:"
> field in debian/control.

If someone wants to implement that, why not. But that would probably
not be a priority, in my opinion.

 Hervé

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