Remarks on the --optional feature of pactree

[incertia]

On 7/30/2020 21:40, Daniel M. Capella wrote:
> On Thu Jul 30, 2020 at 7:40 PM EDT, Sebastian Jakubiak wrote:
>> Hello,
>>
>> I would like to share my thoughts on how `pactree --optional` works.
>>
>> First thing: shouldn't it omit uninstalled optional dependencies when
>> asked to query the local database (no -s/--sync)? There was a comment by
>> Johannes Löthberg on an earlier attempt to implement --optional:
>>
>>> The problem is that while it works fine for -so, when searching for
>>> local packages it should properly exclude optional dependencies that are
>>> not installed so they're not printed, rather than being printed as
>>> unresolvable.
>>
>> (source:
>> https://lists.archlinux.org/pipermail/pacman-contrib/2020-May/000274.html)
> 
> Vaguely recalled there being history to look into, but it slipped my
> mind.
> 
>> So for example here:
>>
>> $ pactree -d1 -o python2-urllib3
>> python2-urllib3
>> ├─python2
>> ├─python2-pysocks: SOCKS support [unresolvable] (optional)
>> └─python2-pyopenssl provides python2-pyopenssl: security support
>> (optional)
>>
>> python2-pysocks should be skipped, shouldn't it?
> 
> Since the installed package already has the optdep information, I think
> the dependency tree should show these, listed as `[uninstalled]`.

This could certainly be done. Does unresolvable + optional always mean
this is true?

>> Second: default value of DEPTH (optional argument of -o/--optional). I
>> think that infinity (-1) would have been a better choice than 1. In
>> other words, no depth specified should mean no depth limiting. The
>> function of the switch could then be described like so:
>>
>> --optional[=DEPTH] also list optional dependencies, optionally
>> stopping at DEPTH
>>
>> This would be kind of analogous to how 'normal' depth works -- unlimited
>> unless --depth=N is passed. Also, it may sound silly but -o1 feels
>> slightly easier to type if need be / looks less strange than -o-1.
> 
> Perhaps this was done to avoid flooding? As an extreme example:
> ~ > pactree -so-1 diffoscope | wc -l
> 4089
> 
> Albeit confusing, I think I like this behavior.
> 
> cc Will

This was done for precisely this reason. It's not too hard to revert the
behavior to unlimited unless specified but I think the most useful
usecase of pactree is to look at the immediate optional dependencies, in
which depth 1 by default proves to be quite useful.

>> But I guess that other people's views on this matter might differ from
>> mine. Plus, it is maybe too late anyway to change the behavior of the
>> feature since a release containing it has been made. I should have
>> raised my concerns earlier.
> 
> Not too late IMO.
> 
> --
> Best,
> Daniel <https://danielcapella.com>
> 

-- 
Will