Re: An odd thing when updating X11R6...

[Ian Jackson <iwj10@cus.cam.ac.uk>]

Michael Alan Dorman writes ("An odd thing when updating X11R6..."):
> [...]
> Oh, and just to get briefly back on track, the new dpkg is _worlds_
> faster, though I find dselect frustrating because it _insists_ that
> because I have installed the doc package, I _must_ install either emacs or
> info, neither of which I have any interest in (I use a different editor's
> info-reading capability) -- unfortunately, if I try to override its
> selection of either/both of those packages, it then unhelpfully decides to
> remove the doc package.  I guess this isn't a _bug_--it's supposed to be 
> playing dependency watchdog, after all--but I can't seem to find the "do 
> as I say, or else" switch.  Is there one?

No, but it's on the wishlist.  grep the dselect source for `fixme'.

You can override dselect's ideas of what to do by using capital
letters of various kinds.  Try using `h' and browsing the list of
keystrokes.  There will be more information about this in the help
screens.

Is this other Info reader a Debian package ?  If not, why not ? :-)

Ian M.: could the `doc' package be made to Recommend `info |
info-browser', and Emacs to Provide info-browser ?

Then this other package can be made to Provide info-browser too.

(The existence of `info' at the start of the dependency list is often
important to get the default right - see the various *.txt files in
project/standards.)

Ian.