Re: Bug#88307: Netbase needs to not depend on not-necessarily-needed packages.

[Tollef Fog Heen <tollef@add.no>]

* Brian May 

| I don't think you would need to use force depends here.
| 
| For instance, take:
| 
| Depends: a (if kernel-image-2.2.18)
| 
| Then if kernel-image-2.2.18 is not installed, it is still possible to
| install this package and package a at the same time (they don't
| conflict), this may be appropriate, if for instance you have manually
| installed the kernel without dpkg.
| 
| If the kernel is installed, then package a must be installed before
| this one can be installed.
| 
| Why would you use force depends here?

Ok, take this example - netbase ought to depend on ipfwadm if kernel
version is 2.0.x, ipchains if kernel version is 2.2.x, iptables if
kernel version is 2.4.x.  For simplicity, let's not take the fact that
you can have 2.2 with iptables support in and that you can use
ipchains, ipfwadm or iptables on 2.4.

If I haven't done anything to the kernel from my Potato install, dpkg
will think that I have 2.2.18pre21 (or something like that).  If I
then have upgraded to woody, and changed my kernel to 2.4, without
using a package for that, dpkg will still think that I have
2.2.18pre21 installed.  However, I don't want to use ipchains, I want
to use iptables.  And I don't want ipchains installed at all.
(Because I've something which detects whether iptables or ipchains is
installed and I want it to use all the cool features of iptables and
it checks ipchains before iptables.)

That means that I want to have netbase installed while not having
ipchains installed.  I can do that using --force-depends, but next
time I use apt, it'll install ipchains again.  (Can I do this by
holding the package, or doesn't that work for not installing a
package?)

-- 

Tollef Fog Heen
Unix _IS_ user friendly... It's just selective about who its friends are.