On Sat, Nov 09, 2002 at 11:45:21AM -0500, David D.W. Downey wrote: > Why should it matter if another package provides the same services. maybe > people don't wnat to use that particular package? > If the guy wants to packge it up and maintian it, let him. Unless someone > can find a specific reason that that particular software package should not > be included (and just because another software package provides the same > functionality is *not* a good reason), ther eshould be no problem. If "we've already got one of those" isn't enough reason to object to packaging a piece of software, pray, what is? Debian contains more software than any other operating system I know of. This is good, in that it ensures the software you need is always at your fingertips; but it's also bad, in that it makes it more difficult to sort out what software is actually *useful*, and what software we have packages for because it seemed like a good idea at the time. We have a certain responsibility to be *discriminating* in our packaging, in order to create an operating system of quality, not just of quantity. The question "why do we need another one?" should always be asked, and unless there are problems with the functionality provided by the existing package, "I don't want to use that one" is a piss-poor excuse for expanding the archive. -- Steve Langasek postmodern programmer
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