[Aptitude-devel] Bug#815554: Bug#815554: aptitude: truncated hostname in header line (regression)

[Manuel A. Fernandez Montecelo]

2016-02-22 23:12 Vincent Lefevre:
>On 2016-02-22 21:22:44 +0000, Manuel A. Fernandez Montecelo wrote:
>> I had to do some changes to the size due to #810221 -- the fields Broken
>> and Download size are more important than host for most people, I guess.
>
>I don't think they need much precision (3 or 4 digits is enough).
>Also note that the host is truncated even when there is no size
>information. For instance:
>
>aptitude 0.7.6 @ cven
>
>and that's all with a 80-column terminal!

I don't recall the details, but I think that aptitude/cwidget reserve
the space even if the other fields don't have any text in them, and
there are fields for "Broken", "Will use/free space", and "DL Size".

The minimum for the hostname should be 8, expandable but not shrinkable,
but either it's not doing that or it overcommits space available and
then shinks anyway.


>> Some people like the hostname being there, but I am still wondering if
>> it was an error to honour that request and enable it by default, because
>> we have had 2 reports because of it in a short time.
>
>I think that it is nice to have it since there is space for it
>(see above). I also have the hostname in my window title, but
>when I run SSH in screen, it may or may not be updated, depending
>on the context. Having it in aptitude is more informative.

Noted.


>> Due to the rules of creating columns in aptitude/cwidget, this is a bit
>> of a mess (it needs to reserve space beforehand even if the line appears
>> empty).
>
>How about defining only one column and build the line yourself?
>
>> In any case, something has to give, and it's impossible to
>> support largish hostnames in 80-width characters anyway.
>
>I get:
>
>aptitude 0.7.6 @ cven              Will free 357 kB of disk spa DL Size: 38.8 MB
>
>I don't understand why both the hostname and "disk space" are
>truncated. Also, instead of "Will free 357 kB of disk spa",
>which should be "Will free 357 kB of disk space", how about:
>
>Disk: -357 kB
>
>(with the sign - for "free" and + for "use").
>
>Note that "space" and "size" are redundant with the kB/MB/... size unit.
>Instead of "DL Size:", you could write "DL:" or "Download:".

Actually, when fiddling with the above I thought about rephrasing
specially the longer "Will free...", maybe somethink like "Disk after
install: blah", "Disk usage change: blah", "Disk usage: blah" or
similar.  Not much shorter but it will probably be enough.  I am not
sure if just "Disk" is descriptive enough for new/casual users.

I didn't go ahead to try to not make it worse, or to make possibly
unnecessary changes that might unplease some users more avert to change
in general, or the new phrases in particular.

"DL" by itself is not very descriptive for new/casual users, and
"Download" is 8 chars (in English) vs 7 of "DL Size", so it doesn't help
with the length thing (although it is clearer).


Cheers.
-- 
Manuel A. Fernandez Montecelo <manuel.montezelo at gmail.com>