Re: NF Compromise - Alternatives Nagging + planned removal date warning
On Wednesday, November 20, 2002, at 02:44 AM, sean finney wrote:
well, how about this. the first time they install debconf/dpkg/apt,
one of the configuration options could be
"do you want to be informed of free alternatives to chosen packages?"
Well, the first (only!) time they will install apt/dpkg on a system is
during the dbootstrap in debian-installer. I'd object very strongly if
such a question were asked by d-i. Debconf is doable, but it'd have to
be a priority low default no question --- in which case, most people
wouldn't see it. And those that would see it probably already know how
to look. In general, I don't see preferences as an excuse for bad user
interface. (I hate those "don't show this dialog next time" checkboxes,
but that's a rant for another thread.)
However, an approach that is *much* better user interface comes to
mind: Give dselect/aptitude/etc. a key binding to show alternatives
(this is even more general!) and even display a small note at the
bottom of the description:
$PACKAGE does blah, blah, blah with yada, yada, yada. It is useful
if you like foo, bar, and, baz.
.
$PACKAGE blah, blah, blah. Lorem ipsum dorum. Etc.
.
.
$OTHERPACKAGE1, $OTHERPACKAGE2, and $OTHERPACKAGE3 provide
similar functionality. For more information, type $KEYBINDING.
Typing $KEYBINDING would bring up a screen with just $PACKAGE and
$OTHERPACKAGE1..$OTHERPACKAGEn listed. In dselect, I'd imagine it'd
look sort of like the dependency screen.
I hope you'll agree that is much better user interface.
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