usage numbers for macports vs. homebrew?

[James Berry]

On Mar 18, 2014, at 12:57 PM, Eric A. Borisch <eborisch at macports.org> wrote:

> However, perhaps we should take a page from their book. Look at the homebrew homepage (http://brew.sh/)
> 
>  * It would be nice a similar minimalist, "here is what macports does for you" landing page.
>  * A one line copy-and-paste install option to get a new user going would be nice, too. It could check for and prompt the user for XCode, etc before actually installing. I assume this is what theirs does.
>  * A simple 'port create <url>' that would create a "typical" Portfile (configure / make / make install) in a auto-generated local location (and properly setup sources.conf) and then open the new portfile in Editor (perhaps with some helpful comments on things that might need tweaking)

I’m with Landon: I like this idea too. I think a lot of the perception of MacPorts comes from a dated page design and poor functionality in the website, coupled with an overly verbose and less-than-useful sequence of messages during port operations. Some of the work that Clemens has done with progress meters, etc, has taken us a few steps forward.

For the website, I think the following would help:

 * Updated design, colors, etc.
 * More integrated web app with better access to ports, etc.

And for the port client, the following:

 * More use of ANSI colors in the log messages (used to distinguish the start of each port, etc., and maybe with different colors for different phases)… all tunable, of course, for those who don’t like color.
 * A careful review of what we emit, and when (we don’t clearly distinguish when a port was loaded from a build-bot vs built by hand, unless you know what to look for), etc.
 * Spinning ANSI indicators during loading operations, etc, where we can. We could do this in loading, activation, etc. The hardest time would likely be in building and configuring, where we don’t have any hooks back from the build.

Yeah, in the end it’s all just glitz and glitter, unfortunately, but it does lead to perception…

> I do with they'd drop their slogan.. Alternatively, <childish> we could counter with '(Hungover on|Bad batch of) Homebrew?' </childish>

I reiterate what somebody else said (maybe Landon) that their approach to this really seems to go against open source and open philosophy and spirit. It’s downright mean-spirited. Rather than make me want to collaborate with them, it just makes me pissed off, especially as they’re so wrong.


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