On Fri, 9 Aug 1996, Ian Jackson wrote: > Dale Scheetz writes ("Re: New virtual package names. "): > ... > > On another note, is there an editor virtual package? Is there any interest > > in adding one? It could be valuable to add Provides: editor to ae (and > > others as well). > > Sorry I'm coming into this so late (just over a week, in fact), but I > think this is a daft idea. > > Noone is going to deinstall all the editors on their system and not > notice what they've done wrong and how to fix it - this is not the > kind of `mistake' our dependency scheme should try to address.
It was my understanding that this was EXACTLY what dependancies were designed for; Protecting the installer from removing functionality that other packages need. > > The only possible consequences of creating an `editor' virtual package > and having things depend on it are: > * Needless updates to packages to add dependencies and Provides This is not a technical argument. It is an economic one, and should not be listed as a primary point. (all change takes work) Your assertion that it is needless is not yet backed up by technical arguments. In addition, the modification of other editor packages to encorporate this new VPN are not on any critical path, so they can happen as need arrises. > * Some person installs their own favourite editor in /usr/local > and wants to remove all ours but can't. This is true for any package that has others that depend on it. If I want to put a qmail of my own into /usr/local, I will still need to keep some Debian mail-delivery-agent installed to satisfy other packages dependance on an MDA. A way to tell dpkg about "non-package provides" would fix this problem in general, but I don't necessarily think that it is needed, or even desirable. > > I think the `editor' virtual package should be scrapped. > I personaly have no problem with this, as long as you can show a more specific reason for doing so. So far I haven't seen an argument that is "to the point". Later, Dwarf ------------ -------------- aka Dale Scheetz Phone: 1 (904) 877-0257 Flexible Software Fax: NONE Black Creek Critters e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------------ If you don't see what you want, just ask --------------