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Re: [RFC] DEP-6: Meta-Package debian/control field
"David Paleino" <dapal@debian.org> wrote in message [🔎] 16193268.79MvG96rZv@home.hanskalabs.net">news:[🔎] 16193268.79MvG96rZv@home.hanskalabs.net... 
Hello people,
per the DEP process described at http://dep.debian.net/deps/dep0/, this is
the first call for comments on this proposal.

       Title: Meta-Package debian/control field
       DEP: 6
       State: DRAFT
       Date: 2009-12-20
Drivers: David Paleino <dapal@debian.org>, Luca Bruno <lethalman88@gmail.com> 
       URL: http://dep.debian.net/deps/dep6
       License:
        Copying and distribution of this file, with or without
        modification, are permitted in any medium without royalty
        provided the copyright notice and this notice are preserved.
       Abstract:
Introduce the usage of a new field in debian/control, Meta-Package, 
        to mark "meta-packages" as such, and allow easy choice of
        installed packages, without being bitten by the "autoremove"
        feature of package management tools.



Counter proposal:

New meta-package Boolean field.
Meta-packages would normally have few or no Depends, being almost completely recommends.
Recommends (perhaps also Depends) of meta-packages are not marked as automatically installed.
Attempting to install a meta-package if apt is not configured to install recommends by default will terminate in an error, rather than completing, unless a force flag was passed. (This is to ensure the meta-package does not basically completely fail if that setting is off, without spitting out some form of error).
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