Re: [pacman-dev] [PATCH] Document group and providers selection

On 23/06/11 01:57, Dan McGee wrote:

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The format required for selection of packages within the group selection dialog is not entirely obvious, so provide some documentation.

Fixes FS#24134.

Signed-off-by: Allan McRae ---

On Wed, Jun 22, 2011 at 3:54 AM, Allan McRae wrote: maint-worthy, although we'll see if we do another release from there (probably not).

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I am crap at writing documentation so suggestions on how to make this clearer are more than welcome.

doc/pacman.8.txt | 12 +++++++++--- 1 files changed, 9 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/doc/pacman.8.txt b/doc/pacman.8.txt index 531c992..c11439c 100644 --- a/doc/pacman.8.txt +++ b/doc/pacman.8.txt @@ -69,13 +69,19 @@ Operations interprets ">" as redirection to file.) + In addition to packages, groups can be specified as well. For example, if -gnome is a defined package group, then `pacman -S gnome` will install every -package in the gnome group, as well as the dependencies of those packages. +gnome is a defined package group, then `pacman -S gnome` will provide a +dialog allowing you to select which packages from that group you wish to

"provide a prompt"? I don't see it as a dialog ala ncurses/gtk.

I have gone with "prompt" as that seem better.

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+install. The package selection is specified using a space separated list of +package identifiers. Sequential packages may be selected by specifying the "package identifiers" sounds more like names. Perhaps "numbers", or is that too simplistic?

Maybe just another quick sentence saying "Each package in the group is identified with a number" or something.

Number sounds fine to me.

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+first and last package identifiers separated by a hyphen (`-`). Excluding +packages is achieved by by prefixing a idetifier or range of identifers "identifier", spelling in two places here. :set spell in vim is helpful for these, as a side note. Maybe we should add a similar bit to the modelines in doc/ as I put in NEWS?

Not really what you're attempting to solve here, but now that it is documented, I'm surprised we don't treat commas or even semicolons as valid separators, the same as spaces.

I suppose that could be easily added. I am adding it to my TODO list as I always attempt to use comma separators.

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+with a carrot (`^`). You probably mean "caret".

Reworded section: In addition to packages, groups can be specified as well. For example, if gnome is a defined package group, then `pacman -S gnome` will provide a prompt allowing you to select which packages to install from a numbered list. The package selection is specified using a space separated list of package numbers. Sequential packages may be selected by specifying the first and last package numbers separated by a hyphen (`-`). Excluding packages is achieved by prefixing a number or range of numbers with a caret (`^`).

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+ Packages that provide other packages are also handled. For example, `pacman -S foo` will first look for a foo package. If foo is not found, packages that provide the same functionality as foo will be searched for. If any package is -found, it will be installed. +found, it will be installed. A selection dialog is provided if multiple A selection prompt, similar to the one described fro groups, is provided if...

Not really... I think you can only select one provider so it is a bit different to the group prompt. dialog -> prompt change has been made.

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+packages providing foo are found. + You can also use `pacman -Su` to upgrade all packages that are out of date. See <> below. When upgrading, pacman performs version comparison -- 1.7.5.4