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

[Craig Treleaven]

The point is that, if you missed it the first 
time, you don't know to go looking for the 
information.  Let alone where to find it in the 
mass of dependencies that may have been 
installed.  Experienced users know to scroll back 
through their Terminal history; new users, not so 
much.  In the year or so that I've been following 
macports-users, several people have had this 
problem.

I think using TextEdit is preferable to a temp 
file since it would be more 'in-your-face'.  As 
well, the user can easily cut/copy, print or save 
the info if they desire.

If this is implemented, there should probably be 
a command line switch to turn it off.  So cron 
(or crown!) jobs don't litter the system with a 
bunch of windows.

Craig

At 12:11 AM -0500 2/25/13, Jeremy Lavergne wrote:
>So the notes are available easily enough as we 
>have demonstrated, and we could repeat spewing 
>them again after all installations. I would 
>hesitate removing them after each installation 
>as a user could halt the install process.
>
>As for how many packed will be installed, that 
>should be available since one csn use the 
>verbose flag to see the list of dependencies. in 
>the end this is all meta data about what will be 
>going on. It might be only immediate 
>dependencies however.
>
>Ian Wadham <iandw.au at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>
>>On 25/02/2013, at 12:54 PM, Jeremy Lavergne wrote:
>>>  There are issues on all fronts: crown job updates, distributed
>>installs, etc. No one size fits all :-)
>>
>>Notes that flash by are one of  my pet (only) gripes in Macports.  May
>>I suggest:
>>
>>4) Macports remembers, on a temp file, which ports in the run had
>>notes,
>>    then, at the end, puts out a reminder about the "port notes" command
>>and a list of the ports that might require follow-up action, assuming
>>you
>>     have not covered all those notes after earlier Macports runs.
>>
>>Would that cover all bases?  (Sorry, dunno what a "crown job update"
>>is.)
>>
>>I am considering doing something like that in the Macports GUI I am
>>working on.
>>
>>>
>>>  Craig Treleaven <ctreleaven at cogeco.ca> wrote:
>>>>  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.
>>
>>This was my biggest problem on first installing Macports 20 months
>>ago, when there were fewer binary packages.  The first port I asked
>>for was kdegames4, but first came qt4-mac and all ITS dependencies
>>(i.e. large parts of Linux).  Those took all night Š and I had to
>>sleep.
>>
>>Again, a warning about how many dependencies need to be built
>>could be produced right at the start by Macports, with options to
>>proceed or start again another time.  I certainly plan to do something
>>like that in the Macports GUI I am looking at.
>>
>>>>  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
>>
>>All the best, Ian W.
>>
>>
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Craig Treleaven, CA -- Clearview Consulting
(905) 829-2054  ctreleaven at cogeco.ca