Bug#842305: gnuplot-doc: incomplete setup of this package

[Boruch Baum]

Subject: gnuplot-doc: incomplete setup of this package
Package: gnuplot-doc
Version: 5.0.4+dfsg1-3
Severity: important


Note: This bug report equally applies to package `gnuplot5-doc'.


Dear Maintainer,

The package as installed by debian requires a sysadmin to perform
multiple manual actions in order to make it reasonably useful to the
average expected user of the software. In the case of gnuplot, we
might argue whether an average user can be expected to be a young math
student (child or young adult); this bug report will list deficiencies
that even an adult average user would find gratuitous nuisances, and
that every user would perform or want to perform in order to make the
package usable / accessible. Thus, since these issues can be trivially
addressed in the software packaging, they should.

1] Uncompress data files of the `demos' in the `examples' folder.

  1.1] The demos won't work unless the data files are decompressed, a
       non-privileged user can't uncompress them in place, and the
       demos requires the data files to be in the same folder or in the
       loadpath, so the each unprivileged user on a multi-user system
       must manually identify, copy, and decompress data files of a demo
       to a ~ folder, and add that folder to the gnuplot loadpath.

  1.2] The system-wide `examples' folder is full of compressed files
       that take no extra space when uncompressed, because even
       uncompressed they are less than a file's minimum allocation
       size. A few of the data files are negligibly larger.

  1.3] In a large multi-user educational environment, this can be
       expected to lead to student tumult in the first year of use,
       followed by meetings between the teacher and the sysadmin, and
       sysadmin gripes about how to handle package updates if the
       files are changed in-place.

2] Uncompress the documentation files.

  2.1] Some of the files in the htmldocs folder are distributed
       compressed, and are thus unusable without the same obstacles
       mentioned in #1 above. Also, as above, the files are small and
       the space allocation difference is zero or negligible.

  2.2] The documentation files that are distributed in formats pdf,
       dvi, ps, and gih are also distributed compressed, and are thus
       unusable without the same obstacles mentioned in paragraph 1.3
       above.

3] Add xfreedesktop menu files for the documentation

  3.1] Since options for gnuplot usage include `gnuplot-x11' and
       `gnuplot-qt', the documentation should include xfreedesktop
       integration, because users in such environments expect
       everything to appear in a gui menu. At a minimum, this would
       mean creation of `.desktop' files in /usr/share/applications
       pointing to the files `gnuplot.pdf', `tutorial.pdf',
       `htmldocs/index.html', and `gpcard.ps'.

  3.2] See paragraph 1.3, above.

4] Complete the local `webification' of the demos.

  This is something we/I haven't yet performed locally, as there was
  already enough to report in this bug report before I continue
  locally to get our install suitable for student use, but here's the
  problem and the expected solution.

  4.1] The package includes a folder `examples/html' with a
       (compressed?) file named `index.save', which is a localized
       html page for all the gnuplot demos. GREAT! This would be so
       much more user-friendly than having students explore the demos
       blindly using a file manager.

  4.2] None of the links on that page point to valid pages.

  4.3] The same folder includes a perl script `webify.pl' which claims
       to create those pages. There is also a `Makefile' which claims
       to auto-generate an html demo set, with the confidence-
       deflating caveat "some of the demos need manual intervention".

  4.4] See paragraphs 3.1 and  1.3, above.

5] Add correct path to `examples' folder in `gnuplotrc' file
   uncommented loadpath.

  This technically might be a bug against packages `gnuplot' and
  `gnuplot5', but only makes sense if this package (gnuplot-doc) is
  installed.

  5.1] The file `gnuplotrc' should have its `set loadpath' line
       uncommented.

  5.2] The loadpath should include sane defaults including an entry
       for the package version's demo folder. Maybe precede the entry
       with one for a sane folder in the user's home environment, eg.
       ~/gnuplot.

  5.3] See paragraphs 3.1 and  1.3, above.

-- System Information:
Distributor ID: Devuan
Description:    Devuan GNU/Linux 1.0 (jessie)
Release:    1.0
Codename:   jessie
Architecture: x86_64

Kernel: Linux 4.5.0-0.bpo.2-amd64 (SMP w/4 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Init: sysvinit (via /sbin/init)

-- debconf information:
Unescaped left brace in regex is deprecated, passed through in regex; mark\
ed by <-- HERE in m/^(.*?)(\\)?\${ <-- HERE ([^{}]+)}(.*)$/ at /usr/share/\
perl5/Debconf/Question.pm line 72.
Unescaped left brace in regex is deprecated, passed through in regex; mark\
ed by <-- HERE in m/\${ <-- HERE ([^}]+)}/ at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/Con\
fig.pm line 30.

--
hkp://keys.gnupg.net
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