#782114 exuberant-ctags: conflicting default alternatives for ctags vs. etags

Package:
exuberant-ctags
Source:
exuberant-ctags
Description:
build tag file indexes of source code definitions
Submitter:
Eric Cooper
Date:
2015-04-08 02:36:05 UTC
Severity:
normal
#782114#5
Date:
2015-04-07 22:58:23 UTC
From:
To:
After installing exuberant-ctags:

$ sudo update-alternatives --config ctags
There are 2 choices for the alternative ctags (providing /usr/bin/ctags).

  Selection    Path                      Priority   Status
  ------------------------------------------------------------
  * 0            /usr/bin/ctags-exuberant   30        auto mode
    1            /usr/bin/ctags-exuberant   30        manual mode
    2            /usr/bin/ctags.emacs24     27        manual mode


$ sudo update-alternatives --config etags
There are 2 choices for the alternative etags (providing /usr/bin/etags).

  Selection    Path                      Priority   Status
  ------------------------------------------------------------
  * 0            /usr/bin/etags.emacs24     27        auto mode
    1            /usr/bin/ctags-exuberant   10        manual mode
    2            /usr/bin/etags.emacs24     27        manual mode

This was unexpected and confusing.
#782114#10
Date:
2015-04-08 00:59:53 UTC
From:
To:
This was explicitly requested in https://bugs.debian.org/668560.  I
don't use Emacs and have no intuition for what its users might want, so
I've CCed the reporter of that bug and perhaps the two of you can argue
it out and arrive at a consensus?  It doesn't seem like a good idea for
me to flip-flop on this.
#782114#15
Date:
2015-04-08 01:16:12 UTC
From:
To:
Hello Eric,

I dug around for why I filed for the change in behavior.
Here is the bug report that prompted it:

https://coq.inria.fr/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=2726

ctags -e is not a perfect replacement for etags; in this
example, 'make tags' calls out to etags and expects the Emacs
version.

etags = emacs tags.  It seems only natural for it to have priority,
and tools which refer to it are likely to assume emacs tags. If
I am an emacs user, and I install 'ctags', I don't expect my 'etags'
executable to suddenly change; I should ask for it specifically.

Though, yes, I agree the behavior change is unexpected and confusing,
if you had been using ctags and then installed emacs.

Cheers,
Edward

Excerpts from Colin Watson's message of 2015-04-07 17:59:53 -0700:
#782114#20
Date:
2015-04-08 01:29:52 UTC
From:
To:
Thanks, seems reasonable.  Fine with me to close this.