Re: perlconfig in postinst: opinion please...
In an earlier message, Bruce wrote:
>I just went to a 2-disk base system at your request. This, obviously, meant
>that I had to remove some files from the base....
> [and]
>Hopefully placing "perl" in the "half-installed" state will force
>the user to install it before any other packages, but the alternative would be
>to place a dependency on the perl package in packages that loaded perl headers
>in their preinst or postinst.
A while later, Bruce writes:
> Ncurses-runtime will have to move to the base. I think perl should as well,
> since it is a required component of the base. It may be that it should be
> split into separate run-time and documentation packages.
I'd like to offer an opinion here, if I may. If the user is going
to be "forced" to install something (perl, in this case) before
he/she can do anything useful, then that something should be in
the base system. I understand the desire to keep the base system
as small as possible, but I think 'reasonable' is perhaps a better
goal than 'possible'.
I applaud the idea putting ncurses-runtime in the base. Realistically,
how many people are going to use a system without *something* that
requires ncurses? I also think that you should throw in a full
screen editor. Right now, many (most?) of the people who will try
Debian will be totally stuck if the only editor they have is ed or
sed. Ee seems to be the smallest, and is certainly easy enough to
figure out. I know, this is the path that leads to a 20 disk base
system, as everybody clamors for their own favorite tool. But an
editor usable by non-Unix people would be a real plus, IMHO.
Steve Greenland
--
The Mole - I think, therefore I scream
"Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elderberrys!"
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to man...]
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