Re: Last part of the proposed changes to debian-faq
Hi,
Justin B Rye <justin.byam.rye@gmail.com> wrote:
> > pkgtools:403:
> > <p>In these cases, `foo-data' doesn't depend on `foo', so when you
> > remove the `foo' package it will not get automatically removed by most
> > package management tools. The same holds true for
> > the library packages. This is necessary to avoid circular
> > dependencies. However, if you use <prgn>apt-get</prgn>
> > (see <ref id="apt-get">) or <prgn>aptitude</prgn> (see <ref id="aptitude">)
> > as your package management tool, they will
> > track automatically installed packages and give the possibility to
> > remove them, when no packages needing them remain in your system.
> ^^^^^^^
> > longman:
> > need
> > 1 [T not in progressive] to have to have something or someone,
> > because you cannot do something without them,
> > or because you cannot continue or cannot exist without them;
> > [=]require:
> >
> > maybe needing here is invalid?
>
> No, that's valid. "Need" is an oddly irregular verb that can't decide
> whether or not it's a modal (and modals don't have -ing forms). But
> "packages needing them" can't be the modal version, since it has an
> object ("needing them") and no complement clause - so it's the regular
> verb with an -ing form.
What I understood from victory's comment is, that "needing" is probably
a too strict verb in this case, better using some more diffuse word like
"making use of". (Using "depending on them", as I have suggested in my
other mail, is probably also not ideal.)
There is no strict package dependency set for this cases (no Depends: ),
so it should not be said, that the package *needs* the other one?
> (Any native speakers reading this and thinking "what's irregular about
> it?" should consider:
> He needs to go!
> * He need go!
> He needn't go!
> He need only go!
> * Need he go?
> Need I ask?
> ...where "*" means "I couldn't use this in conversational English".)
Holger
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