Automatic software removal (was Re: Automatic software installing (like Win. 2000))
On Fri, Aug 27, 1999 at 10:08:25AM +0300, Paul Huygen wrote
> John Pearson <john@huiac.apana.org.au> wrote:
>
> > [objections for auto-installing Debian packages when a user types a
> > command from a package that has not yet been installed. One of the
> > objections is, that package installation ought to be a task of the
> > manager of the computer system and not of an ordinary user]
>
> I can imagine another philosophy for automatic package installing. I
> am sure that many people (I myself for instance) have installed many
> more packages than they actually use. For that case I can imagine a
> utility that remembers for each package the latest occasion that it
> has actually been used, and removes the package if it has not been
> used for a specific time. Then, if a user asks for that package, the
> utility re-installs the package from the deb file. In this way the
> system maintainer keeps control on what is installed, what is
> installable and what is not installed and the system is as mean and
> lean as possible. On the other hand, I presume that it is very
> complicated to write a program that tracks the actual use of each installed
> debian package.
>
One thing that would be nice is an efficient tool for
identifying packages (particularly, libraries) that are
no longer required. At its simplest, a list of packages
that do not provide any package required or recommended
by another package (and that are, therefore, candidates
for removal); more elaborately, a tool run out of a cron
job that maintains such a list, and reports recent
additions. That way, when you remove an app you can see
which of its dependencies may also be removed.
John P.
--
huiac@camtech.net.au
john@huiac.apana.org.au
"Oh - I - you know - my job is to fear everything." - Bill Gates in Denmark
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