Hi Sven, On Fri, Apr 28, 2006 at 12:04:02AM +0200, Sven Mueller wrote: > Ralf Treinen wrote on 27/04/2006 21:53: > > Package: wnpp > > Severity: wishlist > > Owner: Ralf Treinen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > > * Package name : debcheck > > Version : as of 2006/3/19 > > Upstream Author : Jerome Vouillon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > * URL : http://www.pps.jussieu.fr/~vouillon/ > > There is one "small" wish (actually I don't know wether it is a small or > large one, considering the work already done in debcheck/rpmcheck) I > have, which you might want to implement and/or forward to $Upstream: > > It would be quite nice if the tool had an option to do the following: > Given the Packages file (or other compatible list of packages) on STDIN > and a set of "seed" packages on the commandline, print out all the > packages needed to fulfill the dependencies (if all dependencies can be > fulfilled - error out if not). > > This would be of use on many occasions, most notably when you try to > build a minimal repository which contains all needed packages for a > given set of packages you want installed. In my case, it would help to > build an automated installation CD for Debian with some customized > and/or additional packages. Currently, when I add a new application, I > have to manually check the dependencies. Would be extremely nice to find > a way to automate this.
What you describe is indeed one of the goals of the edos project (http://www.edos-project.org/xwiki/bin/view/Main/WebHome) where the debcheck tool (and many others) comes from. In the context of the edos projec we call this problem "thinning" of a distribution. The problem seems to be beyond debcheck's realm. There is work in progress on this issue but so far there is no completely satisfying solution. In particular we would like to find a minimal solution with respect to some reasonable metrics (number of packages, size of packages, ...). How important do you think would be minimality of a solution? Or what would be your criterion for an optimal solution to the problem? The use case you describe suggests to me a variant of the problem which might be easier: Extend a given distribution by just a small set of packages and their dependency closure. In this case it would be sufficient to find a solution which is only "locally" optimal (that is optimal among those that preserve the previous calculated distribution). Would that be sufficient for your purpose? -Ralf. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
