[OpenWrt-Devel] openwrt/packages: [RFC] Proposed flattening of menuconfig menus

[Daniel Dickinson]

On 2018-08-13 01:51 AM, Eric Luehrsen wrote:
> On 08/13/2018 01:29 AM, Daniel F. Dickinson wrote:
>> Posting on list as I think the discussion should include as folks as
>> possible in the discussion.
>>
>> https://github.com/openwrt/packages/issues/6745
>>
>>> Especially when getting started with OpenWrt finding things in
>>> menuconfig is complicated by the second level menus that are
>>> sometimes used and sometimes not, even when the category exists.
>>>
>>> Further not everything fits neatly in a category.
>>>
>>> Finally when, years ago, I tried to improve the situation the above
>>> resulted in titles that I think make it harder to find things (in
>>> retrospect).
>>>
>>> Therefore I would like to do a mass removal of the second-level
>>> menus, leaving only the broad top-level categories like 'net', and
>>> 'utlitiies'.
>>>
>>> Thoughts?
> 
> I see some pragmatic challenges. Without some sorting, a category such
> as "Network" on a project for open source routers becomes a mess (take a
> second; let it soak in). This can be compensated in a few ways, but they

The problem, for me, is that, at present, there *is* a lot of unsorted
stuff in the Network section, which I view as making it worse than if it
were either all unsorted or not at sorted.  I don't know how often you
try and find things in menuconfig, or do a general browse of all
packages, but it's a mess.

> are all a lot of work, and some could fetch unwanted emotional feedback.
> For one example, more aggressive use of "packages-abandoned" is probably
> needed even outside this topics consideration, but how do you qualify
> user interest or proactive maintenance? For another example, remove the
> catch-all "Network" and create 4-5 other named top level menus, but
> while a few categories may be obvious and well stocked, some other
> categories may not be so clear.

I like the idea of a small number of additional top-level menus (though
I still think some kind catchall for what doesn't really fit anywhere is
needed, but not have that be the go-to practise).

Part of the problem (and reason I initially proposed flattening) is that
sorting seems to not really happen consistently, and it is a great deal
of work to sort after the fact.

Regards,

Daniel

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