Easy install of a CDD in whole or in part using standard package admin tools
On Fri, 2004-06-25 at 11:20, Michael Banck wrote:
> Why? Either you run a CDD(!) and want to have the stuff installed, or
> you don't. Well, one could argue about finer-grained task packages like
> debian-med-research and debian-med-office or some such. This could be
> integrated and displayed by tasksel if the respective CDD is installed.
There are differences between CDDs. Debian-Med is highly specialised.
Debian Jr. is not. This leads to differences in administration. A
Debian-Med box might well be dedicated to the task from the very outset,
whereas a Debian Jr. box may be created from a generic installation at a
later date. The reason I think integration into the existing package
admin tools is important is to accomodate for these different CDD
needs. Some people will prefer to just stick in a CDD installation CD
and configure a box for a particular purpose. Others will want to
customize an existing box for a particular purpose after doing a generic
install. We should aim to accomodate both groups of users.
> Anyway, I thought that we were beyond the conception of task packages as
> regular Debian packages.
Tasks themselves are not regular Debian packages, but the modules
contained within the task currently are. I had hoped we would
eventually work around the inflexibility of using meta packages for the
individual parts of a CDD by a multi-level task system (a task that has
subtasks, each of which has dependencies on single packages that
may-or-may-not be available and won't scuttle the install if they
aren't). But since the tasksel maintainer seems to be moving away from
that direction, I'm proposing we move on from this issue and see what we
can do in the standard package admin tools. As mentioned several times
before, debtags are promising. If all parts of a task are tagged, and
the package admin tools allow selection of the parts to install based on
generic or more specific tags, that does away with the inflexibility of
Depends. But thus far, I haven't seen any process documented for "how
to use debtags to install a CDD in whole or in part". Perhaps now is
the time to do that.
Ben
--
synrg at debian dot org
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