Re: Bug#149714: libfam0 Does not depend on fam

[Cedric Ware <cedric.ware@enst.fr>]

	Hello,

Apparently, the new stable fam packages, changed due to DSA 154-1, make
a "dependency" change: libfam0 now recommends fam itself, following bug
#149714:

> Hmm. Well, given that, I think fam could be in "Recommends", so dselect
> will pester about it. (I doubt that those situations where fam is being
> used over a network would allow local users to use dselect at any rate,

I do use dselect and have no use for a local famd, and am somewhat annoyed
by this change in stable.  (I have a vague recollection that dependencies
in stable should not change, but I can't find anything about it in policy,
so I must be mistaken.)

> and the user can still not install fam should they desire.) Also, a

Well, I'm not sure about how not to do it since, as you say, dselect does
now pester about it.  If famd is not to run locally, one must either use
'Q' to tell dselect to really not touch it - which, for all intents and
purposes, defeats the dependencies - or comment it in /etc/inetd.conf,
but AFAIG there is no guarantee that a future upgrade of the fam package
will not reactivate it.

Or is there a better way?

> change in the description to warn about libfam0 being useless w/o a fam
> daemon somewhere would be a welcome addition :-).

I would heartfully deinstall libfam0 if KDE did not depend on it. :-)

Now, I realize that there is a problem between the programs actually
using the fam functionality, which could be broken if no daemon was
running anywhere, and those that don't really need it but can use it
and are therefore linked against the appropriate library.

It appears not to be a simple packaging problem.  Indeed, I'm not even
sure the problem is the packaging system's to solve...  But I don't
like running unneeded services on my workstations (and as we just saw,
there are security issues).

Any suggestions as whether this change should be reverted (possibly
only in stable), or a better way exists to tell dselect to really not
install "Recommends" dependencies?

						Thank you,
						Cedric Ware.