Proposed change to "Target" term in base ui_msg's

Randall Wood rhwood at mac.com
Sat Sep 15 17:37:49 PDT 2007


I say go with either
	"Installation Phase $target returned/has a ..." or
	"Operation $target returned/has a ..."

I think that "Operation..." has the advantage of not possibly be  
construed as referring to a phase, target, or instruction on the  
command line.

On 14 Sep 2007, at 12:17, markd at macports.org wrote:

> Proposal:
>
> Changing the ui_msgs in porttrace.tcl and portutil.tcl. from:
>
> "Target $target returned/has a blah blah" to
> "MacPorts Installation Phase $target returned/has a ...." or just
> "Installation Phase $target returned/has a ....."
>
>
> Reasoning:
>
> I think the term "target" in MacPorts user-level communication is
> ambiguous and confusing.  It invites the question, "Target of  
> what?"  At
> the level of user-level messages at least, it seems "target" is  
> more or
> less synonymous with "phase", since "target phase" or just "phase"  
> seems
> to communicate the same thing more clearly.
>
> But "phase" alone seems inadequate because that term invites the  
> question
> "What type of phase?" so I'd prefer the term "install phase", assuming
> that it is ok to call all the MP phases generically "install  
> phases", even
> though technically install is a phase itself.  But that seems much  
> better
> than the way the old guide speaks of "build targets" generically,  
> because
> it seems more natural to call the MP phases "install phases" because
> "building" has a more specific meaning and makes "build phases" seem
> innaccurate (or at least confusing) as a term for MP phases.
>
> What do you all think about this?  I want to harmonize the error  
> messages
> with the new guide and I've already expunged the term "target" for the
> reasons stated above.
>
> Here are the ui_msgs as they are now.
>
> ---------------
> port1.0/porttrace.tcl:                  ui_warn "Target $target has an
> undeclared dependency on $port"
> port1.0/porttrace.tcl:                  ui_debug "Target $target  
> has no
> traceable dependency on $port"
>
> port1.0/portutil.tcl:       ui_error "Target $name returned: $errstr"
> port1.0/portutil.tcl:            ui_debug "$ident registered provides
> '$target', a pre-existing procedure. Target override will not be  
> provided"
> ---------------
>
> Mark
>
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Randall Wood
rhwood at mac.com
http://shyramblings.blogspot.com

"The rules are simple: The ball is round. The game lasts 90 minutes.  
All the
rest is just philosophy."





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