Re: [RFR] Description for package quassel

[Justin B Rye <jbr@edlug.org.uk>]

Thomas Müller wrote:
>> Do I gather that in principle you can use a quassel-client* package
>> without also having quassel-core installed on the same host?  It
>> might be worth explaining that dependency here.  Otherwise, fine.
>> 
> Thats right. The idea is to have a core running on a server with 24h internet 
> access - maybe in a virtual server on the internet. Users connect to the core 
> from other hosts as they like. While offline the chat messages are stored in a 
> database and can be viewed later.
> 
> Shall we explain it in the description?

Directly explaining this would probably be wiser than using
misleading terms like "distributed", but it's not easy.  Maybe...

   Quassel is a modern, cross-platform, graphical IRC client made up of a
   "core" component, which maintains a connection to the IRC server, and
   one or more "clients", which can attach to and detach from a local
   or remote core. This gives some of the same advantages as using screen
   with a text-based IRC client.

Maybe with the word "channels" in there somewhere.  And surely
there's a label somewhere that describes this design... modular?
Master/slave?  Or perhaps it's an IRC multiplexer...

(Mind you, whenever a package description claims to be "modern",
that always makes me think it should be datestamped.  Especially now
that the year is MMX.)

>>>  This package installs the monolithic client. This contains both core and
>>>  client and can be used like a traditional IRC client, without requiring
>>> an external core.
>> 
>> Uh... why would anyone want that?  Does Quassel have any selling
>> points apart from the one that this version leaves out?  And how
>> does providing both in one package provide any benefit to Debian
>> users?  It's only one "apt-get install" invocation either way.
> 
> Well thats for all the people out there - like me;-) - who have no interest in 
> viewing the backlog. I just want an irc client - I use the monolithic client.

So what advantage does it have over any other graphical IRC client?
Remember that the main job of a package description is to let admins
know whether they want to install a given package.  It seems odd
that the package that holds the unmodified name "quassel" is the
version with Quassel's key feature stripped out...
-- 
JBR	with qualifications in linguistics, experience as a Debian
	sysadmin, and probably no clue about this particular package