Snofrix meta-packages
Snofrix meta-packages
---------------------
In connection with the new versions of Snofrix
that are now appearing, I have been building
a system of meta-packages. To use them, you
need to include the following line in your
/etc/apt/sources.list
deb http://skolelinux.org/~conrad/debian ./
Although Snofrix is based on Debian/unstable,
I suspect there would be no problem to use
these meta-packages together with skolelinux
sarge, also known as Debian/testing. Unlike
the stable branch of Debian, unstable and testing
are rather close to each other. Hence these
packages could be of interest to anyone now
testing skolelinux/sarge.
Since snofrix is a live CD (with a possible
live DVD envisioned), the metapackages have
been divided into three groups:
1) snofrix-cd-*
2) snofrix-dvd-*
3) snofrix-lang-*
The original reason for building these packages was
to keep better track of which packages were installed,
but some of you may find them useful as way of finding
interesting software. With your help, I hope to keep
these meta-packages as cutting edge and up-to-date
as possible.
Let me briefly discuss the philosophy behind these
meta-packages. Snofrix is a live CD that is meant
to make Linux as attractive as possible to school-age
children. My point of view is that by blurring the
line between education and entertainment, we make
education more appealing and entertainment more
educational. In that spirit, Snofrix includes
many games *as well as* educational software.
http://www.skolelinux.org/~conrad/snofrix.html
Because the CD is size-constrained, the snofrix-cd-*
packages will be tightly constrained by me. I welcome
your suggestions, but I am unlikely to make large
scale changes to these packages.
The snofrix-dvd-* packages are much more open-ended.
They include the snofrix-cd-* packages as dependencies.
If you have snofrix or skolelinux installed on hard disk,
and you have no special size constraints, the snofrix-dvd-*
packages are recommended above the snofrix-cd-* packages.
At this stage, I have not given that much thought to the
snofrix-dvd-* packages -- I welcome your suggestions.
For the snofrix-dvd-* packages, I will give preference
to mature programs with a user-friendly interface.
It is not my ambition to include all of Debian/freshmeat
in the package lists! Since the original concept behind
Snofrix was to make Linux as user-friendly and enjoyable
as possible. I do not believe that we improve the user
experience by including each and every package.
Finally, to obtain your desired localization, you need to
include at least one of the snofrix-lang-* packages, and set
the $LANG variable to the appropriate value. Both openoffice.org
and mozilla-firefox respect the $LANG variable and will start
up in the appropriate language.
A note on apt-get/aptitude
--------------------------
Those of you who have been using apt-get all your life should
learn about aptitude. When dealing with meta-packages of this
kind, aptitude is a better tool to use, because of its intelligent
handling of dependencies. For example, you install snofrix-cd-all,
taking with you 500 new packages. Now you realize it was a mistake.
If you type apt-get remove snofrix-cd-all, you will only remove
the meta-package, and you will be stuck with 500 new packages.
But aptitude cleanly removes all of the depencies, with a syntax
that is essentially the same as apt-get: aptitude purge snofrix-cd-all.
There are occasions where you will still need apt-get however.
Suppose you are using Debian/unstable, and you discover that
gcompris has a critical bug that makes it unusable. You prefer
to install gcompris/testing. But if you type aptitude remove gcompris,
you will de-install snofrix-cd-all, and by consequence the entire system!
Hence in this case you would use apt-get: apt-get remove gcompris
followed by apt-get install -t testing gcompris.
In this case, it helps to be stupid. :-)
There are some additional issues with aptitude and recommended packages.
I use a strict package accounting, because I cannot afford to have
recommended packages installed on the CD behind my back. Hence my
/etc/apt/apt.conf includes the line:
Aptitude::Recommends-Important false;
If you are not space constrained, and you want to have the recommended
packages, you should change this value to true, or delete this line --
I seem to recall that the default value is true.
Let me know what you think!
Conrad
------------
snofrix-cd-*
------------
root@2[KNOPPIX.build]# apt-cache search snofrix-cd
snofrix-cd-all - snofrix collected programs
snofrix-cd-burner - snofrix programs for CD/DVD burning
snofrix-cd-debian - snofrix debian tools
snofrix-cd-development - snofrix development programs
snofrix-cd-editors - snofrix editors
snofrix-cd-education - snofrix education programs
snofrix-cd-fonts - snofrix fonts
snofrix-cd-games - snofrix games
snofrix-cd-graphics - snofrix graphics programs
snofrix-cd-internet - snofrix internet programs
snofrix-cd-isdn - snofrix ISDN programs
snofrix-cd-modem - snofrix modem programs
snofrix-cd-multimedia - snofrix multimedia programs
snofrix-cd-office - snofrix office programs
snofrix-cd-printer - snofrix printer programs
snofrix-cd-scanner - snofrix scanner programs
snofrix-cd-system - snofrix system programs
snofrix-cd-toys - snofrix toys
snofrix-cd-xserver - snofrix xserver programs
-------------
snofrix-dvd-*
-------------
root@2[KNOPPIX.build]# apt-cache search snofrix-dvd
snofrix-dvd-debian - snofrix debian tools
snofrix-dvd-editors - snofrix extra editors
snofrix-dvd-education - snofrix education programs
snofrix-dvd-fonts - snofrix fonts
snofrix-dvd-games - snofrix extra games
snofrix-dvd-graphics - snofrix 3d graphics programs
snofrix-dvd-internet - snofrix extra internet programs
snofrix-dvd-multimedia - snofrix extra multimedia programs
snofrix-dvd-office - snofrix extra office programs
snofrix-dvd-system - snofrix system programs
snofrix-dvd-toys - snofrix extra toys
snofrix-dvd-xserver - snofrix xserver programs
--------------
snofrix-lang-*
--------------
root@2[KNOPPIX.build]# apt-cache search snofrix-lang
snofrix-lang-bg-bg - snofrix Bulgarian language files
snofrix-lang-ca-es - snofrix Catalonian language files
snofrix-lang-cs-cz - snofrix Czech language files
snofrix-lang-cy-gb - snofrix Welsh language files
snofrix-lang-da-dk - snofrix Danish language files
snofrix-lang-de-at - snofrix Austrian language files
snofrix-lang-de-ch - snofrix Swiss language files
snofrix-lang-de-de - snofrix German language files
snofrix-lang-en-gb - snofrix British language files
snofrix-lang-en-us - snofrix English language files
snofrix-lang-es-es - snofrix Spanish language files
snofrix-lang-et-ee - snofrix Estonian language files
snofrix-lang-eu-es - snofrix Basque language files
snofrix-lang-fi-fi - snofrix Finnish language files
snofrix-lang-fr-fr - snofrix French language files
snofrix-lang-ga-ie - snofrix Gaelic language files
snofrix-lang-gl-es - snofrix Galician language files
snofrix-lang-he-il - snofrix Italian language files
snofrix-lang-hu-hu - snofrix Hungarian language files
snofrix-lang-is-is - snofrix Icelandic language files
snofrix-lang-it-it - snofrix Italian language files
snofrix-lang-lt-lt - snofrix Lithuanian language files
snofrix-lang-lv-lv - snofrix Latvian language files
snofrix-lang-nb-no - snofrix Norwegian bokmal language files
snofrix-lang-nl-nl - snofrix Dutch language files
snofrix-lang-nn-no - snofrix Norwegian nynorsk language files
snofrix-lang-pl-pl - snofrix Polish language files
snofrix-lang-pt-br - snofrix Brazilian Portuguese language files
snofrix-lang-pt-pt - snofrix Portuguese language files
snofrix-lang-ru-ru - snofrix Russian language files
snofrix-lang-se-no - snofrix Northern Sami language files
snofrix-lang-sl-si - snofrix Slovenian language files
snofrix-lang-sv-se - snofrix Swedish language files
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