idea: allow package combinations as alternatives, e.g. a | b + c
Package: dpkg
Severity: wishlist
Hello,
I'd like to share an idea with you that arose in my head when I tried to
install the gnome meta-package. I allready had gnome-desktop-environment
and (many packages of ) openoffice.org installed. The gnome package
wanted to pull in gnome-office, but I thought "I allready have an office
suite that is well integrated with gnome: OO.o". My first idea was to
file a bug against the gnome meta-package to use an alternative
dependency and depend on 'gnome-office | openoffice.org'. Then I
remembered that openoffice.org alone will not integrate well with GNOME,
i.e. use another icon set, file dialog, etc. You will have to install
the openoffice.org-gnome package to get the GNOME integration. But then,
depending on openoffice.org-gnome will still not solve the problem,
since this packages does only provide the libraries required for GNOME
integration. It does not depend on the openoffice.org package itself,
rightly, so you would still end up without an office suite.
Now my idea is, that only both packages together, i.e. openoffice.org
*and* openoffice.org-gnome, will make a good substitute for
gnome-office. The Debian package management is currently not able to
deal with this situation properly. It would be great if the gnome
package could depend on 'gnome-office | openoffice.org +
openoffice.org-gnome'. So the dependency will be satisfied if you
install etiher gnome-office or both openoffice.org *and*
openoffice.org-gnome.
Of course this example is focussed on gnome-office and OO.o, but I
believe you will find many more practical examples the longer you think
about it.
I'd like to know your opinion. Do you think this concept is worth
considering for inclusion in Debian?
Cheers,
Fabian
PS: As another example, imagine you need to depend on a postscript
viewer. There are packages that can view postscript only if the
ghostscript package is installed (e.g. xv; not in Debian, I know). So
your dependency could read 'ghostview | xv + ghostscript'. This way you
will not be forced to install ghostview if you allready have both xv and
ghostscript installed.
Yes, I know there's a meta-package for this situation so you might
simply depend on 'ghostview | postscript-viewer'. I hope I made my point
nevertheless. ;)
--
Dipl.-Phys. Fabian Greffrath
Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Lehrstuhl für Energieanlagen und Energieprozesstechnik (LEAT)
Universitätsstr. 150, IB 3/134
D-44780 Bochum
Telefon: +49 (0)234 / 32-26334
Fax: +49 (0)234 / 32-14227
E-Mail: greffrath@leat.ruhr-uni-bochum.de
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