Re: New ispell packages - proposals

[Ian Jackson <iwj10@cus.cam.ac.uk>]

Kenneth J. MacDonald writes ("New ispell packages - proposals"):
> Each dictionary package provides an Ispell_Dictionary virtual package.  
> Now then, the problem is that of circular dependencies again.  Ideally, 
> ispell should depend on an Ispell_Dictionary, but then the dictionaries 
> should depend on ispell.  Chicken or egg situation...  It is my 
> understanding that we don't have a mechanism for handling these mutually 
> dependent packages, or do we?

There is no problem with this.

Just say:
  Package: ispell
  Depends: ispell-dictionary

  Package: ibritish
  Provides: ispell-dictionary

If you want to make sure that the default dictionary selected by
dselect if the user selects ispell is English you should say
  Package: ispell
  Depends: ibritish | ispell-dictionary

(See the dpkg-*.txt files in project/standards.)

> I've also allocated the virtual package "Spelling_Checker" for ispell, 

Please don't use underscores in package names.  If nothing else it's
aesthetically unpleasing.

Do we really need a virtual package for spelling checkers ?

James A. Robinson writes ("Re: New ispell packages - proposals"):
> > I was thinking of making ispell depend on a dictionary, not recommending
> > one.  Recommending will certainly solve the dpkg problem, but will leave
> > the user with the possible situation of having ispell binaries with no
> > dictionaries.
> 
> Is there any way to use ispell without the hashs?  Can you say, use
> the tools to build your own dictionary?  If that is the case, then
> ispell does not _require_ dictionaries to function, but it can be
> recommended -- in other words, "in order to have normal functionality,
> most people should install one."

This is true.

> > I have always taken the recommended line to be just that, ie.
> > functionality of a package does not depend on the recommended packages
> > being installed.
> 
> I think dselect will pop up a box of packages that the current one
> recommends, with the default being to choose them.  That seems safe
> enough to me (of course, others may very well disagree).  You could
> write that dictionaries are not provided with the ispell package in t
> he description.

The default is be to select only one of the possibly many packages
which can satisfy a dependency.

Ian.