[Slackbuilds-users] Which jack?

[B Watson]

On 12/23/18, Klaatu <klaatu at member.fsf.org> wrote:
>
> Not exactly. I meant some string to indicate that either JACK 1 or 2 may be
> used.
>
> For instance, list "JACK" as a dep, and rename 'jack-audio-connection-kit'
> to 'jack1', allowing 'JACK' to convey that either 'jack1' or 'jack2' are
> acceptable).

AFAIK, that's exactly what a Debian metapackage is. Assuming they still
exist, anyway (may have been replaced by the /etc/alternatives system?)

RPM has something similar ('provides' and 'requires', IIRC).

> I know this would probably 'break' auto-install scripts, but I
> imagine those scripts could add something on their end such that a variable
> 'JACK' resolves to whatever the user defines in a config file.

Make it $JACK. The config file could just be a bunch of shell variable
assignments, with helpful comments:

# Choose jack1 or jack2:
JACK=jack1

# Choose wxPython or wxGTK:
WX2=wxPython

etc etc. Whatever tool you're using would just source that file (if the
tool's written in bash) or otherwise parse it.

Instead of $JACK in the .info file, it could even be: ${JACK:-jack1}

Which means "whatever the config script defined JACK as, or jack1 if
it's not defined". That even leaves the old "this is what the maintainer
tests with" documented (the above would mean "I test with jack1, but
you're welcome to try jack2 if you like").

Not that I expect this to actually get accepted by the admins any
time soon (they have a ton of work to do already, and they're unpaid
volunteers, just like us maintainers)..

> and I think it's debatable whether jack1 really should be the default jack-
> audio-connection-kit package.

It is, but it's not a debate I want to enter into. Not even sure which
side of the debate I'd be on...