RE: Installation of Recommends by default on October 1st
There is a big difference between Recommends and Depends. Depends are
required for a piece of software to work. Recommends should be installed
with a piece of software the majority of the time, but the software can
still work without them, although some features may be disabled. Suggests
are just that suggestions.
I think the new policy is a great idea. As a desktop user and I think in the
majority of use cases, when someone installs something with apt-get they
expect A fully functional piece of software. I know a number of times I have
installed some software that I am not entirely familiar with and find many
standard features missing because I didn't manually check the Recommends.
The software still "works" but often only just!
I also think its good policy for people like yourself creating embedded
systems. With recommends NOT a default maintainers feel pressured to add
additional depends so their software will be "fully" functional with a
simple apt-get install. Now they can move these packages from depends into
recommends. A default install is now fully functional and the special use
case of an embedded system (which would obviously disable the option) will
get an even smaller package.
As it currently stands recommends and suggests blend together. I think
installing recommends by default sharply separates all three.
Regards
Jared
> Policy does not mandate that ALL Recommends: are to be installed. The new
> default makes Recommends: disappear completely - there would be no
difference
> between Depends: and Recommends: just like there is a perception of no
real
> difference between Recommends: and Suggests: at the moment. That makes
things
> HARDER for people like me who do not want Recommends: because maintainers
> will lose any reason to put things in Recommends: and will end up putting
> everything in Depends: just as many current Recommends: are actually just
> Suggests:
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