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

[Craig Treleaven]

At 11:56 PM +0100 2/26/13, Chris Jones wrote:
>  > A simple "notes happened above" message would be ideal.
>>
>>>>  Conversely, we'd be spewing twice as many messages
>>>>  if the install isn't interrupted.
>>>
>>>  Why? If the messages were _only_ printed at the end?
>>
>>  Why move where we're printing them when a simple "hey, scroll up" 
>>will suffice?
>
>Not everyone has their scroll history set to a reasonable size (in 
>fact the default is often quite small) so if a lot of ports where 
>installed, it may not even be possible to scroll up enough to see 
>them... So I don't think you can just assume this will always work.
>
>I think the messages should probably be printed at the end, in one 
>place. I don't particularly care either way if they are printed as 
>well when the port in question is installed, but would tend toward 
>yes, they should.

So, my observation and proposal generated a substantial volume of discussion...

The good:  this seems to indicate that a number of people recognize 
the current situation is less-than-ideal.

The bad:  no clear consensus on how to improve.

For consideration:  it was a user's problem with the port kdenlive 
that prompted the discussion.  Of its 270 dependencies, 6 use Notes 
(aspell, dbus, ffmpeg, kdelibs4, hunspell and python27; thanks 
pixilla) or approximately 2%.  [1]  So, for a new user who comes here 
specifically to install kdenlive as their first--maybe only--port, it 
would be a miracle if they actually noticed ANY of these messages.

Using a TextEdit window--for the 2% of ports needing to pass 
post-activation information to the user--would act much like the 
ReadMe window many .dmg installers finish with.  To be clear, I was 
suggesting one window containing all the notes from that install run. 
It won't happen that often but it sure highlights important info for 
new users.

For MacPorts experts, a command line switch and/or configuration 
setting could suppress these abominations.  (Jan, please don't bother 
reiterating your opinion...you've made yourself crystal clear.  I'd 
like to hear from others.)

That said, just printing all the Notes messages at the end of an 
install run would be a huge improvement.  Doesn't matter if only 1 
dependency installed or everything; if a port with a Note installed, 
presumably the user needs to address that requirement.

Craig

[1] Also checked the rdeps for another sizable package I have 
installed: gramps.  It has 192 dependencies of which 4 use Notes; 
again about 2%.