[yocto] The term Package as used in the YP docs

[Rifenbark, Scott M]

Rudolf,

This is good feedback on the descriptions for the variable names Rudolf.  I did try and clean things up there a bit.

Thanks,
Scott

From: rstreif at linuxfoundation.org [mailto:rstreif at linuxfoundation.org] On Behalf Of Rudolf Streif
Sent: Friday, September 28, 2012 11:45 AM
To: Rifenbark, Scott M
Cc: Paul Eggleton; yocto at yoctoproject.org
Subject: Re: [yocto] The term Package as used in the YP docs

I am not advocating changing the variable names. I know that this is a huge undertaking and prone to many problems. This probably one of the many legacy things people will have to live with and understand. In most cases recipe name and version exactly reflect the name and version of the package it is intended to build which to some extend mitigates the issue.

As far as the Terms section in the manuals is concerned, I see that you already changed the describing text for the variables. That's sufficient, I think.

:rjs
On Fri, Sep 28, 2012 at 11:37 AM, Rifenbark, Scott M <scott.m.rifenbark at intel.com<mailto:scott.m.rifenbark at intel.com>> wrote:
I have tried to weed out the ambiguous use of "package" for this upcoming version of the manual set.  I don't think I would want to suggest changing any of the "P*" type variable names in the code.  I agree with Paul here that the potential for really messing things up out-weighs any other benefit.  This is why I was trying to worm in a bit of history behind those names for the people that might struggle like me.

Scott

-----Original Message-----
From: yocto-bounces at yoctoproject.org<mailto:yocto-bounces at yoctoproject.org> [mailto:yocto-bounces at yoctoproject.org<mailto:yocto-bounces at yoctoproject.org>] On Behalf Of Paul Eggleton
Sent: Friday, September 28, 2012 11:34 AM
To: Rudolf Streif
Cc: yocto at yoctoproject.org<mailto:yocto at yoctoproject.org>
Subject: Re: [yocto] The term Package as used in the YP docs
On Friday 28 September 2012 11:27:37 Rudolf Streif wrote:
> +1
>
> I agree with Scott's definition. In the general Linux context a Package is
> a compilation of binaries, documentation, development files, etc. wrapped
> up in a format that can be used by a package management system to install
> it on a target system.

No dispute there.

> It is somewhat confusing that YP and OE use the term 'package' synonymously
> with 'recipe'. In most cases a package is the output of a recipe.

The thing is, we no longer do that - we've fixed a number of references in the
documentation, help text and error messages for this release so that "recipe"
is used when that's what we mean. If we've left any references that should be
considered a bug.

> Unfortunately, changing variables like P, PN, PV, PR etc.
> may cause some pain. If a transition is what the broader community would
> like to achieve then a period where old and new variables can be used
> interchangeably (if possible) would be the way to go.

I'm not sure there's a huge amount to be gained by doing this when weighed
against the cost - it would certainly cause a massive amount of churn, with
the potential for problems with layer interaction where one layer has done the
big rename and another that bbappends recipes in the first hasn't.

Cheers,
Paul

--

Paul Eggleton
Intel Open Source Technology Centre
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