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1. Hallå Kitteh (clacke@social.heldscal.la)'s status on Wednesday, 05-Apr-2017 07:40:34 UTC Hallå Kitteh

   • louis
   @louis As far as I'm concerned #stow was perfected 21 years ago. I don't care if people call it a symlink farm manager or a package manager, it manages my packages equally well either way.
   
   Manually doing cp and mv is one way of managing your packages. A package manager automates it for you. When it comes to merging and unmerging coherent trees of files, #stow is the smallest thing that could possibly work. I refer to it lovingly every time I talk about #guix, so that we don't forget where we came from, and my home directory is a mix of #stow, #nix and #guix.
   • Hallå Kitteh (clacke@social.heldscal.la)'s status on Tuesday, 04-Apr-2017 22:42:21 UTC Hallå Kitteh

     • louis
     @louis
     
     A package is a bunch of related files that don't make much sense to be on their own, but belong together as a unit. A man page with its binary. A configuration command with its server program, etc.
     
     I download a software package, I compile it, I install it in a directory and I stow it together with other packages that are installed beside it, so that I may perceive all the programs as being in one directory and not have to manipulate my environment variables every time I add or remove software.
     
     I use it for other things too that aren't strictly software packages, things like maybe a set of configuration files that I feel belong together and may be upgraded or downgraded together as a unit.
     
     I version these clusters of files by putting them in different directories where I may point a non-versioned symlink to a "current" version. I separate different packages from each other by giving their directories different names.
     
     Why do you have such a strong reaction against the word "package"? There is nothing wrong in grouping files together and considering them a unit.
     
     I had a quick look at /package/spf and I'm not sure exactly what it does, but it seems to be a way to bridge slashpackage-compatible software packages with traditional "make; make install" packages? I don't see how that relates to our discussion.
     
     Please don't file a bug report against an innocent third party because you and I have difficulty understanding each other. They have more important things to do.
   • louis (louis@gnusocial.club)'s status on Wednesday, 05-Apr-2017 08:58:53 UTC louis

     in reply to
     Well if it was "perfected" 21 years ago, then maybe you should upgrade to the version from 2015. http://www.gnu.org/software/stow/ -- where it clearly says it is a symlink farm manager, and not a package manager.
     
     When teaching people about free software, it is good to give them clarity and not create additional confusion.
     
     When author of GNU Stow have remedied that fact, you should remedy it as well.
     
     We live in the world where we make mutual group agreements, and I hold it valid for you that you can call it as you wish, you can call it cow manager in your world, yet in the common world, we share the reality, and being stubborn does not make white to be black and vice versa.
     Hallå Kitteh repeated this.
   • Hallå Kitteh (clacke@social.heldscal.la)'s status on Wednesday, 05-Apr-2017 09:20:54 UTC Hallå Kitteh

     in reply to

     • louis
     @louis It is a symlink farm manager that I use for package management. I don't have strong feelings over this terminology.
     
     I use the latest version, of course. That's what #guix ships. ;-)