Deprecating port list

[Andre Stechert]

On Fri, Mar 13, 2009 at 8:54 AM, James Berry <jberry at macports.org> wrote:
>
> On Mar 12, 2009, at 11:28 PM, Andre Stechert wrote:
>
>> The difference in the output between 'port installed' and 'port echo
>> installed' seems
>> to be about as minor as the difference between 'port echo installed'
>> and 'port list installed':
>>
>> 'port installed' lines look like: a52dec @0.7.4_0 (active)
>> 'port echo installed' lines look like: a52dec
>> @0.7.4_0
>> 'port list installed' lines look like: a52dec
>> @0.7.4          audio/a52dec
>>
>> Why not just make the output of "port echo installed" rich enough to
>> handle whatever use cases
>
> A good answer is that if you read the reply I just gave to Ryan, you'll see
> that port echo is extremely lightweight, and meant to be so. It just tells
> you what you told it. It really doesn't have the information that port list
> gets. And if we put it into the position of having to get that information,
> than it looses its value of just parroting what you've told it.

Indeed.  I guess what I was trying to point out is that the subtle differences
between 'port installed', 'port echo installed', and 'port list
installed' will likely
be lost on most users and even if they weren't, the value of doing the
lightweight thing may not justify the amount of confusion it causes.  All that
being said, no measurement has been done, so this is all conjecture.

> <stuff about port cd>

***more enlightenment***

Cheers,
Andre