Re: [PATCH] help: colorize man pages

From: Igor Djordjevic <igor.d.djordjevic@gmail.com>
Date: May 22, 2021, 18:38 UTC
Message-ID: <e669d76b-0bed-4eac-a942-c89b7523ca34@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <60a83c794ed4d_81cd4208f3@natae.notmuch>

On 22/05/2021 01:04, Felipe Contreras wrote:

Show 16 quoted lines

> Igor Djordjevic wrote:
> >
> > ... to make the point (hopefully) even more obvious, let me 
> > quote the whole part:
> >
> >   It is reasonable to configure certain software such as a text editor 
> >   to use color or other ANSI attributes sparingly (such as the reverse 
> >   attribute for a status bar) while still desiring that other software 
> >   not add color unless configured to. It should be up to the user 
> >   whether color is used, not the software author.
> >
> > I understand it exactly as (I think) it says - it is reasonable to 
> > allow (the user, not developer!) to configure certain software to 
> > (still) use color
> 
> This does not follow.

Sure, if that is the only part you read ("followed"), taking it out of context while chopping the rest...

Show 6 quoted lines

> The contraposition of that statement is that if a text editor doesn't
> use color sparingly, then the user should not be allowed to configure
> such software.
> 
> Do you really think that's what they are saying? The user should not
> have a choice? (with certain software) That's color fascism.

What I really think is that my message which you replied to - but decided to quote only _sparingly_ ;) - already addressed both use of "sparingly" and who should have the choice (not to say all the power) in a very clear and explicit manner (hint: user exactly), so I'm afraid I'd have nothing more to add, sorry.

Regards, Buga

p.s. Oh, and please do allow me to _opt-in_ the missing part of my message back :) (for whatever that will be worth, eh):

Show 21 quoted lines

> > I understand it exactly as (I think) it says - it is reasonable to 
> > allow (the user, not developer!) to configure certain software to 
> > (still) use color (fully or sparingly should not even matter, and it 
> > may depend on what kind of granular configuration software allows in 
> > the first place, if any), even if his (user's) general ("default") 
> > preference is to have no colors.
> > 
> > Thus color should be user opt-in - NO_COLOR turns all of it off by 
> > default (for all software supporting it), and user decides which color 
> > to turn back on through each specific software color configuration.
> > 
> > That last sentence should make it clear - "it should be up to the 
> > user whether color is used, not the software author".
> > 
> > So it shouldn't matter what does software author think about which 
> > parts of software should be (fully or sparingly) colored (by default) 
> > - NO_COLOR's idea is to give the ultimate power to the user to 
> > decide, and on a global level, starting with no colors by default, 
> > then allowing colors where desired, per each specific software config 
> > (instead of vice-versa, being required to turn color off per each 
> > specific software, where color is otherwise used by default).