Re: kernel-package or kernel-source needs libncurses-devel
On Fri, Apr 14, 2000 at 02:32:06PM -0500, Steve Greenland wrote:
> > > Dselect's overly aggressive handling of Recommends is already painful.
> >
> > Just because one tool is broken it doesn't mean others shouldn't implement
> > it correctly.
>
> Absolutely. Adding the same aggression to apt-get is not "Correct".
Of course, nobody suggested apt-get doing exactly the same as dselect does.
> > > Apt-get should just grab the "depends" level dependencies. If you want
> > > "recommends" and "suggests" dependencies recognized, use a higher level
> > > tool (e.g. dselect, console-apt, aptitude).
> >
> > How high does that level have to be to be able to fetch a recommended
> > package? apt-get (and related) already does everything one would ever want
> > to do with packages, it just doesn't have a GUI but a CLI.
>
> No, it doesn't -- it doesn't help with recommends and suggests; it
> doesn't manage auto-uninstalls of packages that were installed only as
> a result of meeting dependencies, etc., etc., etc. It's a command line
> tool to retrieve and correctly install packages, ensuring that their
> dependencies are met.
But, to my knowledge, neither dselect nor capt nor aptitude do much more
than apt-get, they don't manage auto-uninstalls of packages that were
installed only as a result of meeting dependencies.
By this reasoning, the sole purpose of those three programs would be to help
with recommends and suggests, and of course do it with a nicer interface.
> The problem with adding autoinstall of recommends (or even an offer)
> is that it is used as a tool by dselect et. al. Presumably, when I use
> one of those tools, I've already chosen whether or not to install the
> recommends and suggests. I do not want to be asked again, or have my
> choices overriden.
Several configuration directives to manage this whole behaviour would be in
order, it seems.
You can tell dpkg whether to keep, overwrite or ask on modified conffiles,
for example, and it's all configurable (there is no config file, but that's
on the TODO list :o). So if it's appropriate for dpkg to ask questions, I
see no reason why apt-get wouldn't do the same.
> > A configuration option for auto-getting recommended packages (in apt.conf)
> > would suffice for now, I think.
>
> It needs to be command line option, so that other tools can easily
> deactivate it. The default should be determined by variable in apt.conf,
> and should default off if apt.conf doesn't specify.
Sure.
Now if we could find someone to actually implement all this... <blush> :)
--
Digital Electronic Being Intended for Assassination and Nullification
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