On 2003-10-16 08:40:39 +0100 Craig c@wizball.co.uk wrote:
a) Every time, xfree package gets released. You somewhat can't escape the option of having it to rewrite your XF86Config-4 file. An ex-enlightenment developer really went mad when he found out it overwrote his perfectly configured X.
I don't know this case (and I think at least 2 E developers tend to go mad at the drop of a hat), but I think that you can easily "escape" it by answering "No" when it asks you whether debconf should manage your XF86Config, either at install or on dpkg-reconfigure.
b) Configuration files somewhat goes funny. Another person reported it overwrote his exim4 and apache settings. [...]
It shouldn't. All config files should be marked as Conffiles and won't be overwritten unless you tell it to. Time to report a bug.
c) Some packages just keep breaking for me [...]
"There are bugs"? Gentoo is not bug-free.
last experience of reporting a package was terrible and I was reported by the package maintainer that I was wasting his time. It was one of those bugs that some people can reproduce yet he rejected it. It's unfair world sometimes ;)
Yeah, in 1000+ developers, you get a few morons, but most of them can be worked around. I had a far worse time trying to report gentoo's bugs than I've ever had on Debian. There don't seem to be any equivalents for reportbug or querybts, you have to register in order to report a bug and when you do, you are quite likely to have it closed if it is the slightest bit unclear (best practice is to ask questions and tag as moreinfo). That was part of the reason I ditched gentoo.