Re: [RFR] Description for package quassel

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

Jonathan Nieder wrote:
> For what it’s worth, I like this.  I would leave out the
> “cross-platform” (what is more relevant is that it is graphical, and
> most software packaged for Debian is cross-platform these days).

The question is, can you use the Debian quassel-front-end with a
quassel-back-end on a Windows box?

(Indeed, can multiple users, perhaps following different channels,
connect to one core?  I'm assuming not; if so, it's worth saying.)

> Though probably it is worth mentioning that it works well on a cell
> phone.
> 
> The use may still wonder “why?”, so I think you should mention the use
> for logs.
> 
>  When no clients are connected to the core, it stores messages in a
>  database so they can be read later.

That's more or less what I was thinking of as the "same advantages
as using screen[...]".  Perhaps instead of "a connection to the IRC
server" it ought to say something about maintaining a presence on
the IRC channels.
 
>> 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...
> 
> Maybe:
> 
>  graphical multiplexing IRC client - core
>  graphical multiplexing IRC client - Qt front-end

And presumably:
quassel:
	graphical multiplexing IRC client - Qt core+front-end
quassel-data:
	graphical multiplexing IRC client - Qt data files
quassel-client-kde4:
	graphical multiplexing IRC client - KDE front-end 
quassel-kde4:
	graphical multiplexing IRC client - KDE core+front-end
quassel-data-kde4:
	graphical multiplexing IRC client - KDE data files

If we do use these terms in the synopses we have to make sure that
the long descriptions bridge the gap back to the terminology assumed
in the upstream docs.  Hang on, _are_ there any upstream docs?  Even
the man page is a Debian addition...

>> So what advantage does it have over any other graphical IRC client?
> 
> It looks like the layout is roughly based on WeeChat’s, so it might be
> comfortable for WeeChat veterans that want something graphical.
> 
> Comparing <http://quassel-irc.org/node/104> with the screenshots from
> <http://lwn.net/Articles/216456/>, one benefit seems to be that it
> displays multiple channels at once in a single window, rather than
> using the insane tabbed layout some others use.  But that is only my
> quick and uninformed impression.

Putting WeeChat back in and reshuffling a bit:

   Quassel is a cross-platform IRC client made up of a "core" component,
   which maintains a presence on IRC (and can store channel logs), and
   one or more client front-ends, which can attach to and detach from a
   local or remote core. It's like WeeChat combined with screen, but
   graphical.

> Have others been having trouble reaching Thomas?

I haven't seen bounces.  Thomas, if you're missing posts, see
	"http://lists.debian.org/debian-l10n-english/2010/02/";
-- 
JBR	with qualifications in linguistics, experience as a Debian
	sysadmin, and probably no clue about this particular package