Re: dselect (or apt) wish list
Before the rest of this thread gets way out of hand....
On Tue, 10 Nov 1998, Zack Brown wrote:
> Hi,
>
> For what it's worth, here's a wishlist for debian install scripts (in no
> particular order).
>
> 1) There doesn't seem to be any order regarding which packages are
> downloaded first. I suggest that, by default, dependencies should be
> downloaded before the files that depend upon them. Likewise, there doesn't
> seem to be any order in installation. I suggest the same thing for that.
Apt does this.
> 2) If there are a lot of .deb files sitting around, this slows down dselect
> by producing a lot of screen garbage during the "install" phase. I suggest
> that .deb files that have already been installed (or that have not been
> marked for installation) should not be displayed during this phase.
You need to change the method you use to install packages. I recommend the
Apt method.. The default method, (which is it? I havent used it for
months) IMHO really sucks.
> 3) At the end of the "install" phase, dselect asks if it should delete
> installed packages. I suggest that either the default be changed to 'no', or
> else it be made possible to change the default via a config file. I really
> hate having a single keypress be able to wipe out days of downloading.
Cant say I have seen this one, but I imagine that dselect is wise to only
delete _installed_ packages.. so there is no need to keep them anyway.
(Unless you actually need them)
> 4) It would be great to have a utility that searched my .dpkg/ tree and
> identified any debs for which newer versions have already been downloaded.
> That way I could delete the old ones and save space.
There is no need to save the packages, once they are installed. Unless you
are hanging on that day when your filesystem dies beyond resurrection..
even then, what use are those packages?
> 5) It would be great to do the following: take the output of "dpkg -l" and
> feed it to dselect, so dselect automatically selects all the packages given.
> That would make it much easier to install from scratch and still have the
> system the way I like it. In other words, once I initially have the system
> the way I like it, I could redirect "dpkg -l" to a file. Then, at any
> subsequent reinstall, I could tell dselect to select all the packages from
> that file.
`dpkg --get-selections` and `dpkg --set-selections`
> 6) In the "install" phase, when dselect asks if I would like to select the
> individual packages, it would be fantastic if I could run up and down the
> list, choosing and unchoosing various items, while seeing a dynamic update
> of how much total space will be required. Also, even better would be the
> ability to specify which packages should be downloaded before others (to
> override the actions of suggestion #1 above).
First point, - GOOD IDEA...
Second point, no need. Apt (the new packaging tool) does this in the best
order anyway.
> 7) In the "select" phase, rather than interrupt a selection when a conflict
> or dependency is encountered, I suggest merely listing the dependencies and
> conflicts indented beneath the selection, while moving the cursor to the
> next item below that list. On the other hand, I have no problem having
> conflicts and dependencies pointed out to me when I try to exit the "select"
> phase (as the current version of dselect does).
The reason that you are presented with a list, is that dselect has no idea
about which packages should be installed/removed to solve the problem. It
makes an educated guess, but It is quite often far from what is suitable
for your particular system. Besides, all dependencies and conflicts should
be resolved then and there.
> 8) Last but not least, during the "select" phase, when searching for
> packages, only package names are searchable. I would really like to search
> descriptions as well.
That idea is in the pipelines (I believe.. dont quote me..)
> I hope no one takes offense to these suggestions. I'm just trying to help.
Not at all.
Michael Beattie (mickyb@es.co.nz)
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