Re: bin/51269: pkg_info enhancements

[Joerg Sonnenberger <joerg%bec.de@localhost>]

On Sat, Jun 25, 2016 at 06:55:01PM +0000, David Holland wrote:
> The following reply was made to PR bin/51269; it has been noted by GNATS.
> 
> From: David Holland <dholland-bugs%netbsd.org@localhost>
> To: gnats-bugs%NetBSD.org@localhost
> Cc: 
> Subject: Re: bin/51269: pkg_info enhancements
> Date: Sat, 25 Jun 2016 18:50:33 +0000
> 
>  On Sat, Jun 25, 2016 at 02:45:01PM +0000, Joerg Sonnenberger wrote:
>   >  On Sat, Jun 25, 2016 at 10:35:00AM +0000, paul%whooppee.com@localhost wrote:
>   >  > * Allow for querying of more than one variable at a time, by specifying
>   >  >   multiple -Q options
>   >  > 
>   >  > 	pkg_info -Q PKGPATH -Q PKGNAME
>   >  
>   >  So, how would I know where one variable ends and the next one starts?
>  
>  Uh, with getopt?

In the output, not on the command line.

>   >  > * Allow querying for a list of packages that have a variable set, and/or
>   >  >   packages that have a variable set to a specific value (and maybe even
>   >  >   a third variant to get a list of packages that do _not_ set the
>   >  >   variable).
>   >  > 
>   >  > 	pkg_info -V variable_name
>   >  > 	pkg_info -V variable_name=value
>   >  > 	pkg_info -V \!variable
>   >  
>   >  Given that this can be trivally written as shell loop, I don't see the
>   >  point. [...]
>  
>  "Because shell loops suck" seems like a reason.

Then use awk or Python or Perl or whatever.

>  
>  You're really giving the impression of looking for excuses not to
>  change anything :-|

I've been looking at improving the interface in the past. Most
approaches apart very easily, so are of very limited use for the
complexity they add.

Joerg