Don't mix version specific tags with stuff that isn't version specific!

Question

Version specific tags are meant to questions which are... version specific, right? Then why are we mixing with the apt tag which alone is a very broad tag, or bash, with is, again, a very broad tag? Please, do not use them together ever! Is just madness and confirm what Jeff most feared behavior which was "the community starts to believe that every question, no matter what, has to have a version tag."

APT alone is an excellent tag, any and every question about apt is applicable to any version of Ubuntu, doesn't need anything ambiguous such as version tags. Remember, that our behavior is how we expect others to follow, don't try to start the madness.

Answer 1

While you raise a good point that version tags are massively overused on AU, there's nothing wrong with combining them with other tags.

If a question is about APT and the exact Ubuntu version doesn't matter, use only apt.

If a question is about APT and is only applicable to Ubuntu 14.04, use both apt and 14.04.

Generally speaking, use a version tag if and only if the question is only applicable to that specific Ubuntu version. Most questions should not have a version tag.

When thinking about what tags to use on a question, complete the sentence “my question is about …”. For example, Can I enable bash-completion for the new apt command? is about completion for the command apt in bash, so it should be tagged auto-completion apt bash. The tag 14.04 doesn't belong since this question isn't specific to Ubuntu 14.04.

Answer 2

No, sorry, you're completely wrong here. Before I explain why, just for anybody else watching, this is about my question here and seems to have since dissolved into an argument about version tags... It must be a day that ends in Y.

I'm going to start with a quick summary of my arguments (past and present), then an explanation on how that applies to my question and then an round up of counters to arguments made against these.

• Version tags —with Jeff's blessing— are there to highlight questions linked to specific versions.
• I'm not arguing that every issue has to have a version tag and I'm certainly against things only having a version tag.
• There is no limit on which tags you use together. If a question is about two things, tag it accordingly. That includes versions. This is just how folksonomy works.
• Unless it already isn't, you can't know something isn't version specific until you've tried every version ever made (including future releases). Your subtractive approach helps nobody if that problem does later turn out to be a version specific issue.

So the question under scrutiny...

I had a problem with the 14.04 version of the bash-completion package. The apt command (new to 14.04) doesn't have a completion file in the right place so you can't use Tab to auto-complete things. I was wondering if there was a quick way to enable similar behaviour to apt-get and apt-cache.

The problem is caused by bash-completion being behind the curve. It's not a bug; they just haven't written the file yet (probably because the apt command is still maturing). Even the latest Debian version doesn't have an apt file yet. Trusty is in freeze so it's unlikely that a fix will be brought in. And given the way SRUs work, seems likely this will be a problem for Trusty users for some considerable time.

Again, this is specific to 14.04 because 14.04 is the only release that has this issue.

Might the issue exist in future releases? Who knows! More importantly, who cares? The question is and will always be an issue I had with 14.04. It might go onto apply for other things and if that's the case we can look at the tagging again.

Isn't that just a bug in bash-completion in a dev release?

As I highlighted above, it's a problem (with a workaround) that will outlive the development period of Trusty. Unless somebody wants to do some serious SRUing, this is an issue that will be around for five years.

How do you ever know something is version specific?

Do your best. If you suspect it to be version specific, add the tag. If you can show it's not, remove it. Don't shoot on sight.

This is contrary to the approach being suggested in and under Gilles' answer. I've boiled that down to a flow diagram so you can see what the argument there really is: "Never use version tags"

This was made with tongue firmly in cheek but I mean it. We have version tags. Let's use them when they apply and not worry too much if we're slightly over-inclusive with them. Put more emphasis on getting the other tags as good as possible.

If you're worried about tagging, focus on making sure something has all the tags that definitely do apply rather than quibbling over tags that might not apply.

Answer 3

When Can I enable bash-completion for the new apt command? was first posted, 14.04 LTS was new and was the only Ubuntu release for which the issue applied. It seems to me that the question was, at that time, about as version-specific as questions can get.

Since then, 14.10 and 15.04 have been released, and they both suffer from the same problem. (I have verified this.) This is to say that they both ship with the apt utility but neither ships with bash-completion for it. There's no reason to think Oli's solution is any any way release-specific (just the problem, as it originally existed). Furthermore, I have tested his solution on 15.04 and it works.

So I've removed the 14.04 tag, in accordance with Oli's advice about how to use version tags:

How do you ever know something is version specific?

Do your best. If you suspect it to be version specific, add the tag. If you can show it's not, remove it. Don't shoot on sight.

While I've expressed my views on the controversy in this post, this is primarily as a form of full disclosure. I didn't remove the tag to make a statement or advance any policy position. Instead:

1. The tag was confusing for me when I found the question when searching for help with my 15.04 problem.
2. I followed the link to this meta question and was reminded of its history (which I'd mostly forgotten about).
3. I verified that both the question and answer now apply to multiple releases.
4. So I removed the tag.

I would not ordinarily post a meta answer when retagging a question, obviously. In this case there's been spirited disagreement and I want to make clear that I am not trying to act in a way that's unaccountable to the community. If someone puts the tag back, I will not get an in edit war to remove it again. (I don't see any reason to put it back, though, from any of the perspectives that have been expressed here. So my guess is, that won't happen.)

I have anticipated two possible concerns:

• Why not add tags instead? I don't think anyone wants questions that apply to three releases to have version tags, but even if we did generally do that, we couldn't here. A question can only have five tags; apt, bash, and autocompletion remain important to the question; and thus it cannot reasonably be tagged with 14.04, 14.10, and 15.04 too.
• But, for the OP (Oli), wasn't it about 14.04? Originally, yes, but now it affects all recent releases and questions on Ask Ubuntu don't exist only (or even primarily) for their askers. The task of our site and community is to create a library of Ubuntu questions and answers, which can then be used by anyone. At this point in time, removing the tag doesn't harm the author, but it does help the community at large, now and in the future.