X package dependencies
On Fri, 24 Nov 1995, Andrew Howell wrote:
> Bdale Garbee writes:
> > : xtet42 depends on X11R6 and recommends xserver. This is what Ian Murdoch
> > : said all X packages should do.
> >
> > [...]
> >
> > Second, the whole point of X, to me, is that you can run clients on one
> > machine and a server somewhere else. We build products at work that
> > include X clients in embedded systems, and I've got a variety of systems
> > in my basement that have networking and X client code but no video
> > hardware at all. Ergo, I think that any sort of explicit relationship in
> > the package file between clients and servers is counter to the whole
> > point of X, and should be abandoned...
>
> Yes but your not a common case. The common user will install X cause he wants
> to run X on his machine. To a newbie it's important as they can't use X if
> they didn't know they were supposed to install a server. If I can get
> around dependencies quite simply I don't see why you are having a problem
> getting around recommends. Though I never use dselect, maybe that's your
> problem.
xbase provides X11R6 and recommends xserver. All X client packages depend
on X11R6. So, at some point in an installation, a user is going to be
recommended to install an xserver package. This seems like enough
prompting to me; being prompted every time an X client package is
installed is just an annoyance to those people who really don't want to
install an X server.
I suggest that X client packages do not recommend xserver.
Steve Early
sde1000@cam.ac.uk
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