Re: Configuring server with a virtual package

[Steve Kemp <skx@debian.org>]

On Fri Nov 23, 2007 at 08:32:03 +1100, Alex Samad wrote:

> > <nitpick>
> > This sounds more like a meta-package.
> > </nitpick>

> sounds interesting, did a quick google and found debian-med ?  is this the 
> stuff you are talking about ?

  debian-med is an example of a meta-package.

  A meta-package is a package which exists soley to pull in
 dependencies.  For example I use several packages upon
 my desktop to customise my environment:

    steve-desktop
      - This package installs no files, but it depends upon
        things like 'iceweasel', 'emacs21', etc.   This means
        a simple 'apt-get install steve-desktop' will get me
        most of the programs I care about in one go.

    steve-completion
      - Installs a bunch of files into /etc/bash_completion.d/ to
        give additional bash completion.

  Creation meta-packages can be done easily via the 'equivs'
 package.  (See 'apt-cache show equivs' for a brief intro)

  Meta-packages, and packages for configuration files, are a little
 advanced for typical users, but they are remarkably useful.

Steve
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