Re: base, essential, core - important terminology question.
> Base system - package: various priority & variuos sections: e.g.
> Required/base Important/admin Standard/libs even Extra
> packages
These are the packages that are installed by debootstrap to build a
"Debian minimal system"
They are also the packages you get installed when you uncheck all
tasks in tasksel during a normal install
For precision, from the Policy:
The base system is a minimum subset of the Debian GNU/Linux system
that is installed before everything else on a new system. Thus, only
very few packages are allowed to go into the base section to keep the
required disk usage very small.
Most of these packages will have the priority value required or at
least important, and many of them will be tagged essential (see
below).
>
> Core packages - What is the difference ? What is `Core' exactly ? I
> can't translate as `most_important, standard or base'
> packages 'cause `Important' & `Standard' are priorities
> (see above), `Base' is a section.
Not completely sure about that one. Is this in aptitude's context?
>
> Essential packages - a new term again (mainly used in higher pm's -
> aptitude for example) - What is the difference ? What is
> `Essential' exactly ? I can't translate as `most_important,
> standard, base or core' packages 'cause `Important' &
> `Standard' are priorities (see above), `Base' is a section
> & `core package' is undefined term in other tools.
http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-binary.html#s3.8
Essential packages are packages that cannot be easily removed. Doing
so despite the huge warning given by dpkg in such case puts you at
risk of a system very hard to recover.
Such packages must provide all their functionality even when
unconfigured.
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