Re: Question about -dev thread "Introduction of app-alternatives/coreutils"

On 3/24/26 12:15 AM, Ionen Wolkens wrote:
> On Mon, Mar 23, 2026 at 11:52:38PM -0500, Dale wrote:
>> Howdy,
>>
>> I follow -dev.  Sometimes it gives me a heads up to changes.  This is
>> one I don't get.  Keep in mind, I have no idea of what is going on with
>> these packages upstream.  I have no idea why this is happening at all.
>> I think someone mentioned a license issue or something but that sounded
>> like it was already corrected.  To be honest, one shouldn't need to, as
>> a user, track upstream on every package one uses.  Still, this is
>> confusing to me and my concern, it may confuse others as well.  This is
>> what I currently have installed and in the tree.
> At this stage this is just a proposed change, it doesn't sound like
> it'll go forward for the foreseeable future in this current state given
> the opposition (other less invasive methods were suggested but the
> author does not seem interested, meaning we'll likely keep the status
> quo).
>
> Should also add the change was proposed by a contributor (aka,*not*
> a Gentoo developer), and there is nothing official about this unless
> developers decides they want to go forward with it.
>
> aka, nothing that you (as a user) need to feel concerned about.
>
> It is also not meant to replace coreutils in Gentoo, just provide the
> option for those that want to use the alternative.
>
> Much like how you may prefer to use mawk rather than gawk, bsd tar
> rather than GNU tar, or dash rather than bash as /bin/sh, etc...
> That doesn't mean that because we allow bsd tar we'll switch the
> default and remove GNU tar.


In a way, kinda hate this may not go forward.  I like options.  It's one 
of the good things about Gentoo, and a few other distros maybe. One day, 
the old package may die for whatever reason and the new package may be 
the default.

That said, it was and still is confusing.  At first read, my thought 
was, why is a news item announcing a new package in the tree?  Then when 
it was said that it could break a package that is the current default, I 
really got confused.  I've never heard of a package that is not 
installed breaking another package.  I noticed the author was not a 
dev.  That is why I only posted once at first because at the time it 
sounded like not many needed to worry about it unless they were 
switching and I suspected not many would switch.  Then it got more 
confusing as I read more posts.  Then when it was posted that the new 
package would break existing packages, I came here.  I don't like 
posting on -dev in the first place.  It's why I rarely post there.

Maybe this alternative will have its day later.  Maybe work out some 
kinks and such first.

Thanks for the reply.  I still don't get the news item but at least for 
now, I don't need to worry about it.  Plus, this post got him some 
attention.  Maybe someone else here will help guide the author through 
some changes and try again.

Thanks again.

Dale

:-)  :-)