[gentoo-user] equery versus q-tools

Helmut Jarausch

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Nov 20, 2009, 4:10:01 AM11/20/09

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Hi,

there are two utilities on (my) Gentoo system and I wonder
when to prefer which one.

On one hand there is 'equery' with many commands.
On the other hand there the 'q-tools' i.e. a lot of
symlinks to /usr/bin/q
like
qfile
qdepends
quse
and so on.

Often they offer similar tasks.
I wonder when to use which one.
Which is faster, more reliable, ...

Many thanks for sharing your experience,
Helmut.

--
Helmut Jarausch

Lehrstuhl fuer Numerische Mathematik
RWTH - Aachen University
D 52056 Aachen, Germany

Marcus Wanner

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Nov 20, 2009, 11:30:02 AM11/20/09

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On 11/20/2009 4:00 AM, Helmut Jarausch wrote:
> Hi,
>
> there are two utilities on (my) Gentoo system and I wonder
> when to prefer which one.
>
> On one hand there is 'equery' with many commands.
> On the other hand there the 'q-tools' i.e. a lot of
> symlinks to /usr/bin/q
> like
> qfile
> qdepends
> quse
> and so on.
>
> Often they offer similar tasks.
> I wonder when to use which one.
> Which is faster, more reliable, ...
>
> Many thanks for sharing your experience,
> Helmut.
>

I would personally prefer equery, as it is in gentoolkit, an official
gentoo project, and because is more standard. To tell the truth, though,
I have never even heard of q-tools...

Marcus

Helmut Jarausch

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Nov 20, 2009, 1:10:02 PM11/20/09

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No wonder, it's just my personal nickname for it.
The official name is
app-portage/portage-util

Dale

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Nov 20, 2009, 1:40:03 PM11/20/09

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But as I have seen and read about, equery is not always correct. It is
handy but you need to take its results with a little salt.

That said, I use it a lot. just have to use the old noodle still.

Dale

:-) :-)

Marcus Wanner

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Nov 20, 2009, 3:10:02 PM11/20/09

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Ah. Then I can't really give you any recommendation besides the fact
that gentoolkit seems to be what most people use, and there is certainly
something to be said for using the most popular programs since there
will be faster support and bugfixes. Or course, that is a valid decision
criteria only when there is no other reason to choose a specific option
(there would be no such thing as the linux or even gentoo user base
otherwise).

Marcus

Neil Bothwick

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Nov 20, 2009, 7:10:02 PM11/20/09

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On Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:23:03 -0500, Marcus Wanner wrote:

> Ah. Then I can't really give you any recommendation besides the fact
> that gentoolkit seems to be what most people use, and there is
> certainly something to be said for using the most popular programs
> since there will be faster support and bugfixes.

Like Windows?

equery is known to give incorrect results, and has done for years.

--
Neil Bothwick

I don't know if I can assimilate one more Borg Tagline!

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Marcus Wanner

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Nov 20, 2009, 9:30:02 PM11/20/09

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On 11/20/2009 5:16 PM, Neil Bothwick wrote:
> On Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:23:03 -0500, Marcus Wanner wrote:
>
>
>> Ah. Then I can't really give you any recommendation besides the fact
>> that gentoolkit seems to be what most people use, and there is
>> certainly something to be said for using the most popular programs
>> since there will be faster support and bugfixes.
>>
>
> Like Windows?
>

I did say (right after the snip) that:

"Or course, that is a valid decision criteria only when there is no
other reason to choose a specific option (there would be no such thing
as the linux or even gentoo user base otherwise)."

What I meant by that was, quite frankly, that Windows sucks.

Marcus