i3 softdeps test: updated

i3-softdeps.md: fix markup

doc/i3-softdeps.md

@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ while a port that did not require such linking would only list harfbuzz.
 
 Such dups in the portdb, all using the same upstream tarball, inevitably
 have overlapping footprints, and it becomes impossible to avoid filesystem
-collisions if a user running 'prt-get depinst foo' triggers an attempt to
+collisions if a user running `prt-get depinst foo` triggers an attempt to
 pkgadd a variant of an already-installed port. Once the set of installed
 ports is sufficiently diverse, maintaining prt-get.aliases so as to avoid
 such collisions becomes an impossible task.
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ As the last vestige of a historical preference for non-fluid ports,
 harfbuzz and harfbuzz-icu persisted alongside each other until surprisingly
 recently, only getting merged into one fluid port in November 2021 (commit
 b2e30dbf8c96e03f4fe4b39b1e5ffbecd8372787). This merge allowed users to
-simplify prt-get.aliases, removing "harfbuzz-icu: harfbuzz" (if they had
+simplify prt-get.aliases, removing `harfbuzz-icu: harfbuzz` (if they had
 ever added such an entry to avoid filesystem collisions).
 
 Equipping prt-get with softdeps awareness is just letting our tools evolve
@@ -86,5 +86,7 @@ which in 90% of all cases is overkill ... making something "just a bit"
 more complex isn't "simple" anymore. (https://crux.nu/Main/Mantra)
 
 [3] https://lists.crux.nu/pipermail/crux-devel/2006-August/001912.html
+
 [4] https://lists.crux.nu/pipermail/crux-devel/2008-May/003366.html
+
 [5] https://libera.irclog.whitequark.org/crux/2023-08-21 (16:36)

doc/i3-softdeps.test

@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 Thanks to hestia and jaeger for inspiring this hacking session (2023-08-22).
-All commands were performed on a pkg-cleaned installation of CRUX 3.7, leaving
-the ports at whatever outdated version they had when this particular system was
-last in daily use.
+(Update 2023-08-25): see i3-softdeps.md in this directory for more
+discussion on the merits of adding new prt-get features.
 
 In light of the recent changes to libxkbcommon, jaeger made the observation
 that `prt-get depinst i3` on a core-only system hits an error, as
@@ -10,6 +9,10 @@ for subsequent experiments, here is the list of targets that would be selected
 by the latest official release of prt-get (5.19.6), in response to the
 recommended way of installing a desired port.
 
+All commands were performed on a pkg-cleaned installation of CRUX 3.7, leaving
+the ports at whatever outdated version they had when this particular system was
+last in daily use.
+
 In[0]: prt-get depinst --test i3
 Out[0]:
 *** prt-get: test mode
@@ -77,7 +80,8 @@ xkeyboard-config at the end of i3's dependency list.
 
 Even this change is not enough! prt-get is not aware of the optional
 dependency relationship between libxkbcommon and xkeyboard-config, and so
-cannot insist that libxkbcommon comes later in the list of targets.
+cannot insist that libxkbcommon comes later in the list of targets. jw
+came to a similar conclusion 15 years ago (footnote 1).
 
 Let's see whether farkuhar's softdeps-aware fork can do any better on this
 task. The naive approach, prt-get depinst --softdeps i3, still doesn't work
@@ -236,9 +240,17 @@ prt-get: install successful.
 
 *** prt-get: test mode end
 
+The output of the last command reveals why we recommend performing a sysup
+before installing new ports. Because dependencies in core are not listed unless
+they are dynamically linked in, some of the out-of-date core ports on my test
+system would get updated later, possibly leading to breakage (e.g, if the
+desired port is relying on a new or backward-incompatible feature in one of
+the foundational pieces of the toolchain).
 
-Remarks:
-1. The more intuitive version of the above commands, `prt-get depinst
+Footnotes:
+1. https://lists.crux.nu/pipermail/crux-devel/2008-May/003375.html
+
+2. The more intuitive version of the above commands, `prt-get depinst
    --test --softdeps i3`, currently does NOT consider the dependency 
    relationship "libxkbcommon optionally depends on xkeyboard-config", because
    the latter port is neither currently installed, nor listed explicitly as an
@@ -254,7 +266,7 @@ Remarks:
    two traversals of the deptree.
 
 
-2. The result of trial 2 would be identical to that of 
+3. The result of trial 2 would be identical to that of 
    `prt-get install --softdeps $(prt-get quickdep i3)` using the 
    mixed-upinst branch, because 'install' on this branch behaves the same
    as 'depinst'. In https://lists.crux.nu/pipermail/crux/2008-June/001784.html
@@ -265,7 +277,7 @@ Remarks:
    instead of simply 'install'.
 
 
-3. Some maintainers prefer to do a filesystem check to determine whether a
+4. Some maintainers prefer to do a filesystem check to determine whether a
    needed dependency was linked to one of its optional libraries, and then
    exit early with a message alerting the user to rebuild one of the packages
    in the dependency tree. See contrib/libreoffice for an example. This