[Date Prev][Date Next] [Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

Re: Metapackage dependencies: "Depends" or "Recommends"?



Quoting Adam D. Barratt (2015-07-28 20:02:39)
> On Tue, 2015-07-28 at 17:22 +0200, Jonas Smedegaard wrote:
>> Quoting Ole Streicher (2015-07-28 16:33:17)
>>> Ben Hutchings <ben@decadent.org.uk> writes:
>>>> Installation of a package from the 'metapackages' section does 
>>>> *not* mark its dependencies as automatically installed.
>>>
>>> Really? So, if someone would install a metapackage (for a test), and 
>>> then later uninstall it, its dependencies will remain on the system?
>>
>> That is my experience, yes.  Seems specific to metapackages, so I 
>> suspect there is some APT wizardry going on, treating those 
>> specially.
>
> Specifically, the APT::Never-MarkAuto-Sections configuration section 
> (in /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/01autoremove in a default install).

Quoting Paul Wise (2015-07-29 05:34:49)
> On Tue, Jul 28, 2015 at 11:22 PM, Jonas Smedegaard wrote:
>> Also, even for non-metapackages, if some other package just _suggest_ 
>> the package you pull in via depends/recommends, they stick as well.
>
> That is controlled by the middle one of these apt config settings:
>
> APT::Install-Recommends "false";
> APT::AutoRemove::SuggestsImportant "false";
> APT::AutoRemove::RecommendsImportant "false";

Thanks, Adam and Paul!

In case others like me prefer to explicitly mark wanted packages 
including kernels - as non-auto, here's my tweaks for that:

BEGIN 01autoremove--local
#clear APT::NeverAutoRemove;
#clear APT::VersionedKernelPackages;
#clear APT::Never-MarkAuto-Sections;
END

BEGIN 01autoremove-kernels-local
#clear APT::NeverAutoRemove;
END

BEGIN 99zz-local
APT::AutoRemove::SuggestsImportant "false";
END

Reason for the oddly named 01* files is to (hopefully¹) override 
immediately after unwanted declarations but not shadow e.g. 
01autoremove-postgresql deemed important to preserve.


 - Jonas

¹ I have not found documentation for nor tested if sorting order of 
inclusions is safe - just seemingly works for my da_DK locale.

-- 
 * Jonas Smedegaard - idealist & Internet-arkitekt
 * Tlf.: +45 40843136  Website: http://dr.jones.dk/

 [x] quote me freely  [ ] ask before reusing  [ ] keep private

Attachment: signature.asc
Description: signature


Reply to: