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Re: improvements to apt: my thanks to the developers



David Nusinow <dnusinow@sbcglobal.net> writes:

> On Sun, Nov 02, 2003 at 08:48:58PM +0000, Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton wrote:
>> so, with that background, i am absolutely DELIGHTED to note that
>> apt has some additional information that it displays: it shows up
>> the recommended and suggested packages.
>> 
>> this is INCREDIBLY helpful because by installing one package i can
>> go "hm, maybe i should add that, too".
>> 
>> possible future improvements on this theme could include options,
>> including in /etc/apt/apt.conf, to _always_ add the recommended
>> packages to the list of packages to be installed.
>
> Ok, obviously you've been ignoring dselect and aptitude, both of which
> show these bits of information. And yes, aptitude can be used on the
> command line like apt-get (dselect's version of this is a bit
> different).
>
> It's a real social problem that too many people are indoctrinated to
> believe that Debian = apt-get, and they expect this magical tool to
> solve all their problems, generally ignoring not only suggests and
> recommends, but also alternative programs which handle them differently.

It also doesn't help that the stable installation manual reinforces this
"social problem":

  8.11 Configuring APT

  The main means that people use to install packages on their system is
  via a program called apt-get, from the apt package.

or:

  8.12 Package Installation: Simple or Advanced

  [...]
  If you are looking for a specific single package, after installation
  is complete, simply run apt-get install package, where package is the
  name of the package you are looking for.

IMO, use of apt-get should be deprecated and frowned upon except by
those that know what the hell they are doing.

-- 
I'm sick of being the guy who eats insects and gets the funny syphilis.

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