On Wed, Feb 19, 2003 at 07:01:49PM +0000, Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton wrote: > so. > > this bug needs to be re-opened, specifically against the > xserver and xfonts-base package dependencies. No. > if you like i can reissue this as a separate bug. No. > the bug is: > > if you haven't installed xfonts-base and don't _know_ about > xfonts-base, and have no clue as to why it is needed, and it is > missing, how on _earth_ is anyone expected to get their xserver > working? Read the package descriptions, or read the FAQ. > this is an absolutely critical missing dependency. No. > no other package that i could find, after spending approximately > eight hours spread out across two days of doing "apt-cache > search" and grepping directories and files, provides the "fixed" > font. That's because it's an alias, usually for: -misc-fixed-medium-r-semicondensed--13-120-75-75-c-60-iso8859-1 ...which is provided by the file 6x13-ISO8859-1.pcf.gz. ...which is in the xfonts-base package. It is interesting that, over the course of two days and eight hours, you did not: 1) Read the xserver-common package description: $ apt-cache show xserver-common Package: xserver-common Priority: optional Section: x11 Installed-Size: 808 Maintainer: Branden Robinson <branden@debian.org> Architecture: powerpc Source: xfree86 Version: 4.2.1-5 Replaces: xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2), xserver-vga16 (<< 3.3.2.3a-2), xserver-agx (<< 3.3.2.3a-9), xserver-mach32 (<< 3.3.2.3a-9), xserver-mach64 (<< 3.3.2.3a-9), xserver-p9000 (<< 3.3.2.3a-9), xserver-s3 (<< 3.3.2.3a-9), xserver-s3v (<< 3.3.2.3a-9), xserver-tga (<< 3.3.2.3a-9), xserver-w32 (<< 3.3.2.3a-9), xsun-utils Depends: debconf (>= 1.0.21), xfree86-common (>> 4.2), libc6 (>= 2.3.1-1) Suggests: xserver-xfree86 | xserver, xfonts-base, xfonts-100dpi | xfonts-75dpi, xfonts-scalable, configlet-frontends Conflicts: xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2), xsun-utils, xbase-clients (<< 3.3.6-1), suidmanager (<< 0.50), configlet (<= 0.9.22), xserver-3dlabs (<< 3.3.6-35), xserver-8514 (<< 3.3.6-35), xserver-agx (<< 3.3.6-35), xserver-common-v3 (<< 3.3.6-35), xserver-fbdev (<< 3.3.6-35), xserver-i128 (<< 3.3.6-35), xserver-mach32 (<< 3.3.6-35), xserver-mach64 (<< 3.3.6-35), xserver-mach8 (<< 3.3.6-35), xserver-mono (<< 3.3.6-35), xserver-p9000 (<< 3.3.6-35), xserver-s3 (<< 3.3.6-35), xserver-s3v (<< 3.3.6-35), xserver-svga (<< 3.3.6-35), xserver-tga (<< 3.3.6-35), xserver-vga16 (<< 3.3.6-35), xserver-w32 (<< 3.3.6-35), xserver-xsun (<< 3.3.6-35), xserver-xsun-mono (<< 3.3.6-35), xserver-xsun24 (<< 3.3.6-35), xserver-rage128, xserver-sis Filename: pool/main/x/xfree86/xserver-common_4.2.1-5_powerpc.deb Size: 223372 MD5sum: b921e2d414c676ffab4c281a9fb34384 Description: files and utilities common to all X servers The X server is the hardware interface of the X Window System. Its job is to communicate with video display and input devices, and present them in a standardized, abstract fashion via the X protocol to X clients (X-based programs). The X server largely relieves programs of having to know or care about the details of the hardware with which they are interacting (such things as 32-bit versus 8-bit color, the layout of the keyboard, how many buttons the mouse has, etc.). The catch is that the X server must itself know the technical specifications of the graphics hardware and monitor, the keyboard layout, the protocol used by the mouse, and so forth. . X servers either need fonts installed on the local host, or need to know of a remote host that provides font services (with xfs, for instance). The former means that font packages are mandatory. The latter means that font packages may be gratuitous. To err on the side of caution, install at least the xfonts-base, xfonts-100dpi or xfonts-75dpi, and xfonts-scalable packages. 2) Read the Debian X FAQ: *) Why doesn't the X server package just depend on the xfonts-base package? (I often get this question, accompanied by rhetoric like, "1 CANT BEL1EVE U DONT MAKE THE SURVUR DEPEND ON THE BASE FONTZ PACKAGE BECAUSE IT ALWAYZ ALWAYZ ALWAYZ ALWAYZ ALWAYZ NEEDZ 1T!!11! U ARE SO STUPID 4 NOT MAKING 1T DO THAT!!1 U ARE EVEN STUP1DUR 4 NOT DOCUMENTING WHY IT DOESNT + 4 NOT FIXING TH1Z CRITICAL BUG YEARZ AGO!!11!1!1!! UR SUCH A MORON NO WONDUR PEOPLE USE REDHAT". Seriously.) For the past several years, the xserver-common package has contained the following text in its package description: X servers either need fonts installed on the local host, or need to know of a remote host that provides font services (with xfs, for instance). The former means that font packages are mandatory. The latter means that font packages may be gratuitous. To err on the side of caution, install at least the xfonts-base, xfonts-100dpi or xfonts-75dpi, and xfonts-scalable packages. I'll also note that recent versions of the Debian XFree86 packages (upstream version 4.1 and later) feature the "x-window-system" metapackage which relieves the user from having to have a full command of the interrelationships between the many XFree86 binary packages. So, when you don't understand why a given package relationship doesn't exist (why, for instance, Debian doesn't force the installation of an X server along with X clients, or vice-versa), it may be a good idea to just install the "x-window-system" package, which will probably give you the files you want -- from the XFree86 packages, anyway. > and yet all xservers (xserver-xfree86; xserver-vga16; > xserver-mach32; xserver-svga) depend critically upon that > package, and the xfonts-base package is not included in the > dependencies. No, they don't "critically depend" on that package. The only thing that is critically lacking here is your level of courtesy. > either there is critical missing information, or there is > critical missing dependencies: either way, this is not a bug > that can just be ignored as "another spurious report". Another critical problem here is your failure of critical thinking. You have posited a false alternative. That is a logical fallacy. This bug remains closed, and I ask that you not file any more spurious reports on this subject, as you have threatened to. -- G. Branden Robinson | The basic test of freedom is Debian GNU/Linux | perhaps less in what we are free to branden@debian.org | do than in what we are free not to http://people.debian.org/~branden/ | do. -- Eric Hoffer
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