Re: Holy Gnome3 Invasion, Batman! - Testing Upgrades 06/30/2013
On 06/30/2013 11:38 PM, Andrei POPESCU wrote:
> [JFTR, I hit the same issue a while ago in unstable, and it took a while
> to clean via aptitude's interactive interface]
>
> On Du, 30 iun 13, 17:49:13, Jape Person wrote:
>>
>> So...my problem was that I was just using my package manager improperly.
>> (Self-inflicted wounds are always the most irksome, aren't they?) The aptitude
>> default setting of installing recommends probably works okay for Gnome and KDE,
>> but perhaps a little less so for Xfce or the even more minimalist DEs.
>
> I don't think it's a matter of DE, but what you are using the system
> for, available resources and admin knowledge.
>
> If the point of the installation is to be, let's say, multifunctional,
> then installing Recommends (except maybe specific packages) is useful.
>
> If your system is designed for quite specific needs or even has to run
> with limited resources (e.g. a Raspberry Pi class machine), then turning
> Recommends off and installing them only as needed is probably more
> practical.
>
> Beware though that, as with every non-default setting, you may be using
> your system in a way that is not as thoroughly tested or supported as
> the default setting. And don't even bother to report bugs about missing
> functionality before checking the Recommends.
>
> Kind regards,
> Andrei
Thank you for those observations. I haven't participated much on this list, but
I've noted that your contributions are always among the most helpful and insightful.
In point of fact, I used to always use aptitude to install only the harder
dependencies and was used to having to search through the Audit / Recommends
function to fix any missing functionality that I needed. In retrospect, that
happened very infrequently, so I'm pretty happy to operate that way. Adding only
as needed seems to work okay for me.
I may be a little obsessive about avoiding the installation of stuff that (I
think) actually doesn't do anything for me. Even Xfce seems to be getting a
little "heavy" for my tastes, though I think it's a pretty good compromise
between provision of a fully functional DE and simplicity.
On some systems I have used only a WM -- sometimes even eschewing use of a DM.
They haven't been quite as "pretty" as my Xfce systems, but I hardly miss the
decoration when I'm busy actually working with the systems.
I will be mindful about not reporting bugs without checking the Recommends list.
But I'd rather take that tack than watch the whole of the Gnome DE come flooding
onto my ostensibly Xfce system, essentially because of a bluetooth dependency. I
avoid bluetooth like the plague and turn off the hardware on all my systems.
;-)
Thanks again for your observations.
J.
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