On Tue, Oct 11, 2005 at 12:34:21PM -0700, Daniel Burrows wrote:
> On Tue, Oct 11, 2005 at 08:32:35PM +0200, "Steinar H. Gunderson" <sgunderson@bigfoot.com> was heard to say:
> > On Tue, Oct 11, 2005 at 12:10:22PM -0600, Arthur H. Edwards wrote:
> > > I work at a government laboratory where computer games are prohibited. I
> > > also use the gnome desktop. When I try to remove gnome-games apt wanst
> > > to remove gnome because gnome depends on gnome-games. This is really a
> > > show-stopper for government use of Linux. Also, I would think that the
> > > dependency should work the other way: gnome-games should depend on gnome.
> >
> > I've always wanted apt to be able to distinguish between a task and a
> > metapackage; something like “I want GNOME, but without the games and
> > Evolution, please”...
> >
> > Would it help having our metapackages use all Recommends instead of Depends?
>
> No, because people like to turn off the installation of recommendations
> and then file bugs when major functionality is missing from packages :-/.
>
> Daniel
Hi DDs,
I was thinking of a feature that would show 'recommends' but add a line
line explaining what installing package X would add to the currently
selected package. It would be helpful for the users to know that.
Not every users is a guru and has hours on-end to figure out how
packages are related. It would be a great user help to see a bit of info
so that when you install/upgrade some app says 'hey if you want this
feature, install foo'.
Although I'm not sure which app(frontend: synaptic,aptitude,..)
should/could add this feature. here would be possible output:
-------------------------
% foobar xine-ui mozilla-firefox
package description
------ -----------
aalib1 <aalib1> extends <xine-ui> by adding the ability to output
movies in ascii art format
mozilla-firefox-gnome-support
<mozilla-firefox-gnome-support> extends <mozilla-firefox> by
allowing it to use Gnome-vfs protocol handlers
latex-xft-fonts
<latex-xft-fonts> extends <mozilla-firefox> by adding support
for MathML documents
------------------------
if this metadata could be added to the package data file it could be
utilized by some program(not sure which or how). I'm not sure if its as
simple as using the short description as it doesn't always contain this
info. And if its contained in the long description, it cant be easily
displayed as a single-line concise description.
I guess a basic app could be created to do what is show above.
One of the problem I (and I'm sure others) have is that I see 'recommends' and
wondering exactly why something is recommended and what functionality it
extends. I know the pkg maintainer know, but us users would like a hint
why they think its a 'recommends'.
So, is there a specific package that I can file a wishlist bug?
any 'recommend'ation welcome,
cheers,
Kev
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