Re: A proposal to improve dselect
Kirk Hilliard wrote:
[A nice list of suggested dselect improvements, which I mostly agree
with]
In addition, I think the following improvements are important:
- Create a log file containing *everything* that is output to the
screen (stdout and stderr). I noticed more than one package complaining
it couldn't fully configure itself for one reason or other, and telling
me I could redo the configuration manually by running "xxx". It is not
nice to have to write this down. If people are concerned about disk
space, a menu choice could be to clear the log file.
- Whenever a package returns an error when installing, present the
user with the option to stop installation entirely (so the problem can
be delt with), or continue with the next package.
- Most important of all, build a dependancy list for the selected
package, and start installing at the low end (the packages not depending
on anything else). I did a fresh install and ran into tons of error
messages about dependancies not being fulfilled. Rerunning dselect a few
times solved (most of) these problems, as the stuff the problematic
package depended on was installed by then, but this is _ugly_.
I made a concious choise for Debian, having heard lots of nice things
about the package management and ease of installation. I'm still happy
with my choise, but even Debian has a long way to go before it will
convince the average W95 user that Linux is usable for non-wizards.
> I. Less clutter
> A. Present packages like a folding editor, so the initial
> presentation is quite compact.
The kernel 'make menuconfig' is a nice example.
> Unless a group like this is already in place, I propose that we form a
> working group to initially hash out how dselect should be improved,
> and then to actually implement those improvements.
With the disclaimer that I'm not exactly a *nix guru, I'd like to
contribute to such a group.
Gertjan.
--
Gertjan Klein <gklein@xs4all.nl>
The Boot Control home page: http://www.xs4all.nl/~gklein/bcpage.html
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