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Re: explanation of first column "v" is hiding

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On 2021-07-27 at 07:25, Greg Wooledge wrote:

> On Tue, Jul 27, 2021 at 03:38:31PM +1200, Richard Hector wrote:

>> But experience suggests that A means 'automatically installed' (and p stands
>> for purged, which linguistically doesn't really mean 'maybe has been purged;
>> maybe has never been installed').
> 
> See, it's *not just me*!  Nobody else can find the section that says
> what the letters mean either.  Well, OK, not "nobody", but damned few
> people know about it.
> 
> I know that "search" comes alphabetically before "why", but the most
> common use of aptitude by people who only use it for one thing is
> "aptitude why".  So, when there is *nothing* at all in the "why"
> section that documents what the letters mean, most people will simply
> assume it's not anywhere in the man page.
> 
> I would suggest taking the paragraph that describes what the letters
> mean, which is currently under the "search" subcommand, and doing two
> things to it:
> 
> 1) Reformat it as a table.
> 2) Move it to a separate section, and drop a sentence in the "search"
>    subcommand pointing to it.
> 
> Then, add that same sentence to the "why" subcommand, and to any other
> subcommands that have the same single-letter output indicators.

Sounds worth a wishlist bug report, to me (against whatever package it
is that contains the file which includes the text in question).

If you can come up with a patch that implements this, that would make it
*far* more likely that the requested change would get implemented.

-- 
   The Wanderer

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one
persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all
progress depends on the unreasonable man.         -- George Bernard Shaw

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explanation of first column "v" is hiding Felix Miata <mrmazda@earthlink.net> - 2021-07-26 19:10 +0200
  Re: explanation of first column "v" is hiding l0f4r0@tuta.io - 2021-07-26 19:30 +0200
    Re: explanation of first column "v" is hiding Greg Wooledge <greg@wooledge.org> - 2021-07-26 19:50 +0200
      Re: explanation of first column "v" is hiding Andrei POPESCU <andreimpopescu@gmail.com> - 2021-07-26 21:00 +0200
        Re: explanation of first column "v" is hiding Felix Miata <mrmazda@earthlink.net> - 2021-07-26 22:40 +0200
    Re: explanation of first column "v" is hiding Polyna-Maude Racicot-Summerside <debian@polynamaude.com> - 2021-07-26 22:40 +0200
  Re: explanation of first column "v" is hiding Greg Wooledge <greg@wooledge.org> - 2021-07-26 19:30 +0200
    Re: explanation of first column "v" is hiding Andrei POPESCU <andreimpopescu@gmail.com> - 2021-07-26 21:10 +0200
    Re: explanation of first column "v" is hiding Javier Barroso <javibarroso@gmail.com> - 2021-07-27 01:20 +0200
    Re: explanation of first column "v" is hiding Richard Hector <richard@walnut.gen.nz> - 2021-07-27 05:40 +0200
      Re: explanation of first column "v" is hiding The Wanderer <wanderer@fastmail.fm> - 2021-07-27 13:30 +0200
        Re: explanation of first column "v" is hiding Greg Wooledge <greg@wooledge.org> - 2021-07-27 22:00 +0200
          Re: explanation of first column "v" is hiding <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2021-07-27 22:10 +0200
          Re: explanation of first column "v" is hiding Richard Hector <richard@walnut.gen.nz> - 2021-07-28 01:50 +0200
            Re: explanation of first column "v" is hiding Greg Wooledge <greg@wooledge.org> - 2021-07-28 02:50 +0200
      Re: explanation of first column "v" is hiding Greg Wooledge <greg@wooledge.org> - 2021-07-27 13:30 +0200

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