[pacman-dev] Alternatives system brainstorm

[Daan van Rossum]

* on Saturday, 2019-10-19 02:30 +0200, brainpower <brainpower at mailbox.org> wrote:

> "first wins" feels more "KISS" to me, it's logic is less complex and I
> think it has the least "surprise potential".
> <snip>
> 
> The only thing I'd feel strongly about some automatic choosing is, that
> I think a manual selection should not be changed automagically.
> <snip>

It seems even more KISS to avoid managed alternatives altogether and let the user handle them.

python2 and python3 are two different languages and any python script should be clear about what language they are written in.  A shebang of /usr/bin/python is a bug, in my view, that the OS should not try to "fix".

Currently, we offer a "python" package and a "python2" package.  Similarly for lua, we offer packages "lua", "lua52", and "lua51".  The way this behaves is clear and simple.

I probably am overlooking a use case where managed alternatives are important.  Can someone give a good example to help the brainstorm?

Best, Daan van Rossum
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 488 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://lists.archlinux.org/pipermail/pacman-dev/attachments/20191019/3ef6157a/attachment-0001.sig>