Re: news item: Introduction of app-alternatives/coreutils

On 3/23/26 4:49 PM, moltonel 3x Combo wrote:
> On Mon, 23 Mar 2026 at 16:52, Dale <[email protected]> wrote:
>> the news item should make it clear that nothing needs to be done at all.  A user with no knowledge of this, like me for example, could read the news item and think this is something that needs to be switched to. [...]
> That's a completely fair point. If you read the news item properly it
> should be clear that there's only one "just to be extra safe" todo.
> But if you read it with a "what are the todo this time ?" question in
> mind, I can see how you could think that the update command, or even
> the repair commands or the uutils opt-in some are recommended in all
> cases. I could have phrased it better.
>
>> As a user, I'm not sure why I should be seeing this news item.
> The reason is that there is a possibility the system remains in a
> slightly broken state for a long time, so the new items gives a
> command to shorten that time. There's more than that, but that's the
> core reason, the optional-but-recommended todo for the user.
>
> If the code improvement works, the "slightly broken state" will become
> negligible and we can hopefully drop the news item altogether.

If I just ignore the news item and don't switch, what is going to 
break?  I think the point here for me at least, maybe a few devs as 
well, does this affect enough people to need a news item?  For me, it 
doesn't serve any purpose as I plan to stay with the main stream.  If 
the old package was being removed and a switch is required, *then* I 
expect to see a news item.  For a new package that likely most aren't 
going to use, I'm not sure why this is being announced so widely.  A 
news item is usually about some change that is important at the least, 
affects a lot of people and might cause breakage if one doesn't do 
things a certain way.  A optional package, that most won't use, not sure.


>> There's a new alternative package coming out.  OK. Is there going to be a news item every time something gets added to the tree now?
> Clearly not.
>
>> As a user, if someone is interested in using the new package, have a wiki page that shows how to switch or even possibly, run the two packages side by side.
> Maybe someone will create a uutils wiki page or a forum post. That
> doesn't feel too important to me, I just want the feature to exists,
> interested users will find it.

I think that is the best way to announce this.  As I mentioned, posting 
on the forums and the -user mailing list will make a lot of people 
aware.  The added bonus, a means to get feedback.


>
>> I like the addition of the news item system but not sure if this is the right application of it.  A news item where most everyone will do nothing just doesn't seem like the right way to me.
> Maybe this news item was overzealous or overcautious. I'm just a user,
> this is the first time I'm contributing something that complex to
> Gentoo, I wanted to do things by the book.
>


It never hurts to test the waters.  :-D  Going back to my hole now. LOL

Dale

:-)  :-)