Re: Woody Gnome is not stable
Jeff Waugh wrote:
> <quote who="Chipzz">
>
> > You're probably right, but from a strict technological point of view
> > there is no dependency. I think that's what the meta-packages are
> > for, really.
>
> I don't think a "strict technological point of view" outweighs "do the
> right thing" or "just works".
This whole thread was based on an expectation that "apt-get install
gnome-session" would result in a full Gnome environment. There's no
reason to expect this: gnome-session is just one small part of the Gnome
desktop. The correct, supported way to install a Gnome environment
under Debian is with a task or meta-package.
Should gnome-panel also require a window manager? What about gedit or
gpdf? Why is gnome-session any different? Yes, most users will want to
install a window manager to use with gnome-session -- but that's true of
all X11 software.
There are valid reasons we don't have every X client package depend on a
window manager. It's not uncommon for a window manager to be running on
a thin terminal while the other X clients run on a central server, and
Debian supports this setup.
Right now, gnome-session "just works" in the same sense that gnome-panel
or mozilla-browser "just works": it installs the required software, and
nothing more. Users who want mozilla-browser plus an X server/desktop
enviroment will use tasks or meta-packages.
(Anyways, just depending on a window manager wouldn't be enough to make
things work according to the original poster's expectations; we would
also need to depend on most of the gnome-core packages.)
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