Bug#35691: dpkg: New package dependency: "affects"

[Simon Richter <geier@phobos.fachschaften.tu-muenchen.de>]

On Wed, 7 Apr 1999, Santiago Vila wrote:

> Yet another thing could be done: rewrite the install-mime
> mechanism and convert it into something like the menu system.
> 
> The menu system does not have this problem, because it "collects"
> the menu entries of each package on the background.

The menu system simply builds its database out of a bunch of files in
/usr/lib/menu. This is indeed an alternative, although it would require
that the package that keeps the database provides such the necessary
scripts, which means predicting patches etc. (Another interesting
application: Make sure that a patch is installed). Also, it requires the
user to keep databases he did not request to install (The menu files are
there, whether the menu package is installed or not). This is only a small
problem, because the postinst script would have to be there, too, but it
is easier to mount /var/lib/dpkg over the net if it doesn't fit than all
the database directories.

The menufile approach is certainly a thing I could live with, although it
is not as flexible as the "affects" keyword.

   Simon