Re: Reasons for recommends and suggests
On Fri, 18 May 2007 08:39:00 +0200, Hendrik Sattler
<debian@hendrik-sattler.de> said:
> The description should not explain what the other package is but
> _what_ it does to the selected package. Example: ucf recommends
> debconf-utils. The description of debconf-utils tells me nothing about
> what it actually does (really could be more verbose) and I cannot draw
> the connection line to ucf. The question that arises is: "Do I also
> need it if I am not a debconf developer?".
The dependency of ucf on debconf-utils is a strong, but not
absolute, dependency. In the authors opinion, debconf-utils should be
isntalled with ucf in all but unusual installations.
> I would say no based on the description of debconf-utils just because
> I have not the faintest idea what ucf does with those.
While you are of course entitled to do as you please on your
machine, you are going against the opinion of the maintainer of ucf;
and the utility of the package may be degraded in some circumstances.
> And no, I do not want to read all manpages and README.Debian files for
> packages that maybe are 4th-level dependencies of a selected package
> (although I look at all of them in aptitude).
If you do not wish to educate yourself on the details, perhaps
you should be heeding the directions given to you by the maintainer?
manoj
--
"I say we take off; nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be
sure." Corporal Hicks, in "Aliens"
Manoj Srivastava <srivasta@debian.org> <http://www.debian.org/~srivasta/>
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