Missing functions in debian's packaging system
As good as debian's package system is, I can't find any way to find out what
packages depended upon a package which has been removed. For example, if I
remove the communicator-smotif package, I'd like to be able to also remove the
packages it depended upon. I know I could check the 'Depends:' line for a
package before I remove it, but it would be nice if that information was
included as part of the package removal process. Perhaps even an option to
dpkg to remove a package and all packages that it depended on (as long as
those packages are required by another package).
It would also be nice if there was a command that could be used to look for a
package based on a description (for example, I'd like to quickly find out
which package gives me quake, or the realvideo player). I know that I can
peruse the 'available' file for this information, but from a new users'
perspective, there should be a more obvious way to do this.
Finally, I was wondering if there were any efforts underway to merge RedHat's
and Debian's package formats. Yes, I know 'alien' can handle rpms, but it
can't handle conflicts in filenames and so forth between rpms and official
debs. If the linux community could have a common package format (like we have
a common kernel), it would allow users to mix and match packages from
different sources (assuming there was some common base system). Maybe it's a
pipe dream, but I think it would be neat to be able to change distributions
just by installing a few packages.
--
Scott Barker scott@mostlylinux.ab.ca
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