On Fri, 2011-12-30 at 06:56 -0800, Josh Triplett wrote:
> Ben Hutchings wrote:
> > On Sat, 2010-07-31 at 16:56 -0500, Jonathan Nieder wrote:
> > > Package: iw
> > > Version: 0.9.19-1
> > > Severity: important
> > > Justification: policy §2.5
> > >
> > > aircrack-ng depends on iw, but the former is optional and the latter of
> > > priority "extra". Please bump up the priority of iw to optional to
> > > match.
> > [...]
> >
> > I see that this change is pending.
> >
> > However, I would go further and suggest that iw should be standard, as
> > should crda and ethtool.
>
> "standard" as in "installed by default on all new Debian systems,
> whether they have a wireless card or not"? What benefit would that
> provide?
None for those without a wireless card. You could make a similar
argument against telnet, whois or info (which is 'important'!) - I don't
believe most people use them.
> I do think we should migrate from wireless-tools to iw. For iw, I'd
> suggest taking the same approach currently used by wireless-tools: have
> d-i install them if needed, and otherwise let dependencies (or users)
> pull them in when needed. (This assumes that the existing users of
> wireless-tools understand how to use iw; if not, they need fixing.)
>
> The description of the crda package doesn't really make it obvious why
> users might want it. To enable wifi frequencies that some locales don't
> permit, such as channels 12-14? That seems worthy of a Recommends at
> most, and quite possibly just a Suggests.
The description isn't great.
The permitted power levels and some other parameters also vary between
countries.
> As for ethtool, what rationale do you propose for having it installed on
> all systems, even granting the assumption that most useful systems have
> a network device of some kind? What makes it necessary to have
> available without first running apt{-get,itude} install ethtool or
> installing a package which depends on it? What package with priority
> standard wants to use it, or why do you expect that most admins will
> need to run it?
You may well need to run it because your network is broken (-i, -p, -t
options).
Ben.
--
Ben Hutchings
Beware of programmers who carry screwdrivers. - Leonard Brandwein
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