Notes...that flash by and are gone...(was Re: any good audio/video editing apps in macports?)

[Jeremy Lavergne]

There are issues on all fronts: crown job updates, distributed installs, etc. No one size fits all :-)

Craig Treleaven <ctreleaven at cogeco.ca> wrote:

>At 5:23 PM -0600 2/24/13, Jim Graham wrote:
>>On Sun, Feb 24, 2013 at 11:03:54PM +0000, Chris Jones wrote:
>>>  On 24 Feb 2013, at 10:59pm, Jim Graham <spooky130u at gmail.com>
>wrote:
>>
>>>  There is nothing wrong with KDE, as long as you properly install
>the
>>>  dependencies it requires. My reading of this rather long thread is
>all
>>>  of the problems would have been avoided if the OP had followed the
>>>  instructions as presented to them. You cannot blame KDE for the
>>>  problems that arose because they didn't.
>>
>>But as the OP in question, I didn't KNOW about any of the KDE stuff
>>AT ALL.  I didn't know that I needed this, that, and the other bit.
>>I didn't know that I needed to run other stuff first, or that macports
>>does not actually install aoo of the dependent stuff for KDE as I'd
>>assumed it did.  The errors I saw were completely alien to me.  I'd
>>never run into stuff like that before.  So excuse me if I can't read
>>minds.  Oh, and I didn't install KDE.  It was installed by something
>>else (maybe it was kdenlive, maybe something a long time ago...I don't
>>know).
>
>Jim likely missed some important info while installing kdenlive but 
>it is easy to see how it happened.  If you look at the rdeps for 
>kdenlive, there are _270_ lines!  I don't know how many of those 
>dependencies use Notes to inform the user of some important fact or 
>other.  I *do* know that they scroll by very quickly in the midst of 
>what may be a long, unattended install.  Important information is 
>interspersed amongst reams of output that requires no action.
>
>Right now, some ports use basic text formatting to try to draw 
>attention to these messages (lines of asterisks, etc).  That's good, 
>but could we do more?
>
>Options:
>1) Make users acknowledge messages:  ie, "Press any key to proceed". 
>(Shades of CPAN!)  My take:  please God, no!!!
>
>2) Make such messages stand out more:  use more distinct visual cues 
>such as colour or font.  Could definitely help but I don't know what 
>is supported by all the versions of Terminal.  (Let alone other apps 
>or remote connections.)  What do others think?
>
>3) Deliver the messages in another manner:  eg, cause them to open in 
>TextEdit or a browser window.  I think a few lines of Applescript 
>would be enough to create a new window and display all the Notes 
>messages from an install.  (We would even have the option to use rtf 
>or html to format the messages to improve delivery.)  The user would 
>essentially have an action list after the install.  Drawbacks: 
>doesn't work for ssh-type connections to remote machines.  I think 
>this could be very helpful
>
>Unfortunately, I lack most of the skills to actually implement 
>anything like this.  :-(
>
>Thoughts?
>
>Craig
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