Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2017 11:21:58 -0300
From: Mauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab@s-opensource.com>
To: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>
Cc: Christoph Hellwig <hch@infradead.org>,
        Linux Doc Mailing List <linux-doc@vger.kernel.org>,
        Mauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab@infradead.org>,
        linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
        Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>,
        SeongJae Park <sj38.park@gmail.com>,
        Markus Heiser <markus.heiser@darmarit.de>,
        Masahiro Yamada <yamada.masahiro@socionext.com>,
        Max Filippov <jcmvbkbc@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH] changes.rst: explain the usage of virtual environment
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Em Mon, 19 Jun 2017 07:46:53 -0600
Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net> escreveu:

> On Mon, 19 Jun 2017 06:08:37 -0700
> Christoph Hellwig <hch@infradead.org> wrote:
> 
> > On Mon, Jun 19, 2017 at 08:24:10AM -0300, Mauro Carvalho Chehab wrote:  
> > > As the Sphinx build seems very fragile, specially for
> > > PDF output, add a notice about how to use it on a virtual
> > > environment.    
> > 
> > Please don't.  python venv are good at one thing only, and that is
> > making a mess of your python module path.  Don't ever use them on a
> > system that has proper package management.  
> 
> Well, they are also good for running specific versions of a given package
> without disrupting the setup of your system as a whole, and when even a
> system with proper package management may not offer the version you need.

Yes. Based on my experience with Sphinx, upgrading it to a new
version is painful, as it can cause regressions on docs build.

Also, when a new version is released, the previously stable version
becomes abandoned. Not even trivial and/or compatibility fixes are
accepted against old versions.

So, at least for me, it works best if an specific version is installed 
inside a virtual environment, as it won't cause problems when I update
other packages on my distro.

The one I'm using here is version 1.4.9 (the latest 1.4.x version).

Right now, vesion 1.5.x require a series of patches from Jon to
fix PDF build, and more stuff will be needed to fix PDF builds with
1.6.x.

> I guess my question with the patch is whether this text really belongs in
> changes.rst, or whether it should be part of the doc-guide.

Jon,

If you prefer, I can move such description to doc-guide, but I
suspect that we may need to specify, at changes.rst, what Sphinx
versions are known to work fine.

Thanks,
Mauro