Re: comments on dselect
On Wed, 20 Sep 95 20:54 BST, Ian Jackson <iwj10@cus.cam.ac.uk> said:
> This is likely to happen on small systems (which are now getting
> rarer), and since the user will be aware of the need to set aside
> enough disk space we can just tell them what the disk space
> requirements for a `standard' installation are. This will hopefully
> confine the problem to hasty or naive users on small systems.
This is probably sufficient if the information is placed in a
prominent place. It would be nice if dselect could predict how much
disk space will be used by the new packages and inform the user while
there is still time to back out. This is probably not feasible since
postinst scripts can do things that eat disk space.
[...]
> So, I think that on balance this is the right choice.
You make a convincing argument.
[...]
> No, `q' now just beeps. I thought that `abort all changes' was too
> dangerous a thing to put on an obvious key like `q'. In order to
> abort your changes you have to say capital `X'; this is listed on
> the keybindings screen, and is mentioned specifically in the
> introduction to conflict/dependency resolution lists.
I still prefer ESC. It just seems more intuitive since the user is
"escaping" from the mess he made while in the dependency resolution
screen. :-) I think I'd better wait until I can thoroughly read the
latest version of the keybindings screen before I comment further on
this, though.
[...]
> The package selection scheme has plenty of scope for people shooting
> themselves in the foot. Having a dselect-invoked dpkg silently
> ignore deselected packages would make it hard for people to
> understand why the system was not installing a particular file.
Chances are they'll miss it anyway due to the volume of messages. If
all they saw were messages on the successful installs, it would be
easier to spot an omission.
> The messages also provide a progress indication, in case dpkg is
> searching large areas of deselect packages. This isn't a problem on
> fast machines, but on slow ones it can be (I can simulate this by
> compiling dpkg &c for myself with the full debugging turned on (-:).
A progress indicator is important. However, a simple "." for each
skipped package would suffice, even if it is less informative.
But... you're the author... :-) and these are relatively minor
issues. Thanks for all your effort.
--Mike
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