Re: Proposal for a new package relationship option
On Fri, Nov 24, 2000 at 07:19:04PM -0500, Chris Gray wrote:
> >>>>> "Marcus" == Marcus Brinkmann <Marcus.Brinkmann@ruhr-uni-bochum.de> writes:
>
> Marcus> On Sat, Nov 25, 2000 at 01:15:08AM +0200, Gil Bahat wrote:
> >> Definition: Package X discourages Package Y when the two
> >> packages can exist in a stable setup, but may require specific
> >> configuration to co-exist, or their conjunction might cause
> >> potentially undesireable effects.
>
> Marcus> I think such two packages must not exist. Either they
> Marcus> conflict, or they don't. The default configuration for
> Marcus> non-conflicting packages should always allow for a
> Marcus> peaceful coexistence, without undesireable effects
> Marcus> whatsoever.
>
> I was actually wishing for such a tag when I was having difficulties
> with gnus recently. I had to remove tm (or possibly configure it
> better) to make gnus work, but it doesn't conflict with gnus because
> it and gnus can coexist on the same machine completely peacefully.
I don't know gnus, so I don't know what your specific problem was, but if it
was the default configuration at fault, then it is probably a bug.
I don't think we are including cases here where having a special
configuration of one package causes problems for some other packages. There
is an arbitrary examples of such cases. We can only consider the default
configuration (or the configuration created by special tools like debconf).
> Marcus> Wishy-washy conflicts will only add confusion to our
> Marcus> packaging system.
>
> If confusion is the same as information perhaps.
No, it is not. confusion can be caused by a special type of information or
lack of information.
In this case, it is caused by both. (The user doesn't know what the reason
for the discouragement may possibly be, and there are no front ends which
have this information either. OTOH, dpkg or frontends have to handle this
additional information in some way, or we can just drop it. There is
information, but not enough of it and not of the right type).
Thanks,
Marcus
--
`Rhubarb is no Egyptian god.' Debian http://www.debian.org brinkmd@debian.org
Marcus Brinkmann GNU http://www.gnu.org marcus@gnu.org
Marcus.Brinkmann@ruhr-uni-bochum.de
http://www.marcus-brinkmann.de
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