Bug#429314: texlive-context: missing dependency on lmodern

[Florent Rougon <f.rougon@free.fr>]

Sanjoy Mahajan <sanjoy@mrao.cam.ac.uk> wrote:

> I know: I maintain Ubuntu edgy backports of the Debian unstable/Ubuntu
> gutsy packages for texlive 2007, including 'context'.

So, why are you reporting a bug against texlive-context, since you know
it is deprecated?

>> apt-get is not a tool for newbies. If you don't install Recommends,
>> you should either know what you are doing or expect breakage.
>
> I didn't know that.  By the way, what do newbies use?  I've used
> apt-get since starting to use Debian years ago and don't even know any
> other tools.

Today, the recommended tool is usually aptitude, though some people
recommend synaptic for really basic users such as Mom. Personally, I've
never tried synaptic and I've used dselect since my first day with
Debian. dselect is quite usable if you're able to read the available
tutorials and the keystrokes section in the online help.

apt-get is a relatively low-level tool that doesn't always do what is
good for newbies. aptitude has a similar command-line interface that can
replace apt-get for most uses.

> The Debian policy manual, section 7.2
> <http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-relationships.html>, says:
>
>   The Depends field should be used if the depended-on package is
>   required for the depending package to provide a significant amount
>   of functionality.
>
> I think lmodern fits in that category because without it most of
> ConTeXt's functionality is missing.

1. If ConTeXt cannot be used with other fonts than lmodern, it's an
   upstream bug, IMHO. If this is not the case, then Recommends would be
   appropriate (see the definition of Recommends in the same Policy
   Manual).

2. Anyway, I fail to see what you want us to do, since the context
   package currently in unstable *does* depend on lmodern. Please
   clarify.

-- 
Florent