Re: Proposal for adding a field in packages descriptions
On Thursday 04 March 2004 18:59, Sylvain Joyeux wrote:
> I'm currently writing aimed at integrating APT in KDE (the first step
> was the apt:/ kio). While doing that, I had an idea. (yeah, it
> happens :p) We could add Mime: fields in package descriptions which
> will describe what file type the package is able to handle (no field
> meaning that it is not a file handling library for instance). This
> would have two advantages: - for programmers, to quickly find
> libraries able to handle a certain kind of files
> - for desktop users: when no application installed is able to open a
> given file, the environment will be able to ask the user what program
> he wants to install to open it.
>
> What do you think of that ?
I think you won't be able to make it work in a useful fashion. My
suggestion is that you randomly select 10 to 100 debian packages and
try to determine the appropriate MIME types. That way you'll get a feel
for how/if your idea might work in practice.
Which types an application or lib is able to handle is not fixed in a
lot of cases, in particular, where plugins or other dynamically loaded
libs are used. Just think of Konqueror and various media players. And
then, the MIME type by itself doesn't say what an application/lib does.
Lacking a better example, think of MIDI files. It's a huge difference
between an app plays back the file and another app that prints a score
of the notes.
In itself, the idea of closely classifying packages seems attractive to
me. As I stated, I'm pretty sure that MIME types are not suitable for
the purpose. I'm doubtful if it can be made to work at all.
Michael
--
Michael Schuerig Face reality and stare it down.
mailto:michael@schuerig.de --Jethro Tull, "Silver River Turning"
http://www.schuerig.de/michael/
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