Smart questions and bikeshedding - Was: Install Brackets removes Boinc ???

[Peter Flynn]

On 24/08/18 09:30, Ralf Mardorf wrote:
> On Thu, 23 Aug 2018 23:42:20 -0500, Wynona Stacy Lockwood wrote:
>> On Thu, Aug 23, 2018 at 10:58 PM, Nils Kassube wrote:
>>> Ralf Mardorf wrote:
>>>> Please read http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/smart-questions.html .
>>>
>>> Please don't refer people to that article. While there are certainly
>>> some good points in the article, it is written in an intimidating
>>> way. Therefore I don't think it is helpful for an ordinary user.

It needs condensing (tl;dr) or we need a more concise and up-to-date
page to refer users to.

>> Seconded. In fact, anything by ESR should be titled "How to write like
>> a pompous windbag."

Except that he's actually right in most places, just aggrieved.

> Actually it's hard to help the original poster. I suspect he's
> interested in a solution or at least an explanation.

Which is why Ralf asked the additional questions. Wade didn't originally
give enough information to make it possible to answer the question.

Users don't generally understand — initially — that context is king, and
that without it, there can be no help. Which is why ESR wrote that page,
for right or wrong.

> On Fri, 24 Aug 2018 04:32:57 +0200, Ralf Mardorf wrote:
>> On Thu, 23 Aug 2018 19:36:47 -0500, Wade Smart wrote:
>>> In installed Brackets and when I did it uninstalled Boinc. So I
>>> started to reinstall Boinc and it said it had to uninstall Brackets.
>>>
>>> Ive never seen this before. Has anyone else seen this?  

[snip]

>> What output do you get? There's a reason, if installing one package
>> does remove another package and the package management will inform
>> you about this reason.

There is always a reason, but the problem with uncooperative packages
and systems is usually that they don't give anywhere near enough
information for diagnostics.

I've never used Brackets or Boinc, so I have no idea why they reject
each other, so I can't help in this case. But I HAVE (occasionally, but
rarely) had similar conflicts between two packages or systems, and in
each case the authors of both were unwilling to make changes because
they had fundamental differences of opinion about architectures or
frameworks or something similarly fundamental. Or because one of them
"got there first". In one case the dispute dragged on for 2–3 years
before one of them finally added a 3–line fix (if...else...endif).

> Until now I don't see another post trying to help the original 
> poster. Mine still is the only reply.

I wish I could help.

> The topic of the original 
> thread isn't " http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/smart-questions.html ", 
> it's "Install Brackets removes Boinc ???".

The problems raised by ESR still need re-expressing, though.

///Peter