Re: update-alternatives and ispell dictionaries
kenny@festival.ed.ac.uk writes ("update-alternatives and ispell dictionaries"):
> Ian Jackson wrote ...
> > What you're trying to do is give the user a list of the available
> > languages and have them choose one once, I think.
>
> Yes, that's right, but they must be asked that every time a dictionary is
> installed. And we have to cover for the situation when the default is
> removed - an alternative, if it exists should be linked.
No, you don't want to prompt every time a dictionary is installed.
You want to prompt once for every change in the dictionaries that are
installed, even if all those changes happen at once.
In particular, if you install several dictionaries in one dpkg run, or
using --unpack, and then configure them later, you should only get one
prompt.
This is nontrivial.
> > IMO the right thing to do is to write a different script, which asks
> > the user which dictionary they want, offering them the choice of the
> > ones in /usr/dict or wherever.
>
> > Perhaps update-alternatives could be extended to do this at some later
> > point, but it would have to be called in the preinst as well as the
> > postinst, with different options, so that by the time the first
> > postinst runs all the info is available.
>
> I've been thinking, dangerous I know, but I know what I'd like to see
> out of this, as a package maintainer...
>
> Perhaps [ scheme deleted ]
I'm afraid I don't understand your scheme completely, but I don't
think it's likely to be helpful. I think I know what the right answer
is, and I don't have time to implement it before the release.
In the meantime you can either use update-alternatives as it is, or do
something yourself.
> I feel it's important to use excellent tools such as
> update-alternatives instead of trying to maintain a set of my own
> buggy scripts which require yet another location to store state
> information, 90% of which is already in /etc/alternatives and
> /var/lib/dpkg/alternatives.
In principle you are right.
Ian.
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