Re: Suggestion for change to debian package format

[Mitch Blevins <mblevin@debian.org>]

Mark Phillips wrote:
> > Is that what you were looking for?
> 
> Almost.  This would work for "required" packages, but what about
> "suggested" packages?
> 
> Perhaps dselect or the apt front end could behave the same (by
> default) with "suggested" packages, with the user being able to turn
> off the auto flag at selection time.

I did leave several issues unaddressed.  Mostly because I am ignorant
about how apt will handle them.  Issues are:

*) Do you mark Suggests: links with the Auto flag when installed.
*) Do you uninstall a package marked Auto only when it doesn't have
   any dependencies at all (Depends:, Reccommends:, or Suggests:),
   or do you only consider the strong Depends: link.

I do know that in the interactive frontends, that you will be able to
toggle the Auto flag as you are installing the packages.
So, Yes, the user will be able to turn off (or on) the Auto flag
at selection time (no matter what the default is).

-Mitch