Steve Greenland <steveg@moregruel.net> wrote: > On 04-Sep-04, 17:50 (CDT), Eric Wong <eric@petta-tech.com> wrote: > > I'd like to get `mpd-client' added to the virtual package list at: > > Sigh. Here we go again. > > Virtual packages are not random groupings of related programs. Virtual > packages are NOT keywords. Virtual packages are there so that other > packages can Depend: on a generic interface, rather than a (varying) > list of specific programs. > > Since MPD clients don't provide a generic interface usuable by other > programs/packages, I don't see the point. > > What functionality would be usefully guaranteed by "Depend: mpd-client" > in the control file? Package: mpd Suggests: mpd-client mpd itself is fairly unusable[1] without an mpd-client somewhere on the network mpd is running on. mpd is just a daemon that plays music, there's no fancy user interface for it, just TCP/IP and audio output. The daemon uses TCP/IP, which allows a variety of user interfaces to be used with it, even from a variety of machines. Users are expected to install an mpd-client like mpc, mpdcon.app, gmpc, phpmp, or ncmpc to control mpd. I'm using Suggests: and not Depends: because mpd and mpd-clients use TCP/IP, and don't necessarily run on the same machine. 1 - of course, telnet and netcat can work, too, but that's unreasonable for anybody but developers and masochists. (Wait, aren't they the same group of people?) -- Eric Wong
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