Hi,
- If I see a new package installed by someone else, * if nothing depends on it, mark it "Unknown; probably manually installed" * otherwise, mark it "Unknown; probably automatically installed"
Consider apt-get install foo apt-get remove fooThis leaves libfoo1, which was pulled in by foo and is not depended on by anything, hence aptitude will consider it "probably manually installed". Most cases where this feature is needed (i.e. unless migrating from another PM) are like this one, where you really want the package removed.
Packages in Unknown state that are depended on by other packages could be shown in the preview in a separate section, so you can go on the section line, tap M and then manually go through the list and mark everything that is actually needed.
"Unknown; probably manually installed": I don't see doing anything especially fancy here, but there should be a way to show all of them on demand.
Show all of them in the preview.
"Unknown; probably automatically installed": If one of these packages is only [transitively] depended upon by some other packages in the same class, tell the user that they all are possibly unused. (for instance, in the preview screen)Such a state would be used only seldom, it applies only to packages installed automatically with another PM where the depending package is removed with aptitude.
One problem is that the set of packages that are possibly unused isn't disjoint to the other sets of packages that aptitude displays, which could perhaps lead to some awkward situations. (what if a package is both upgradable and possibly unused? Which category is it listed in, or is it listed in both?)Two categories, like the distinction between automatically installed new packages and new packages. In total, we get four new categories.
Simon
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