Quoting IOhannes m zmölnig (Debian/GNU) (2017-11-13 21:50:32) > thanks jonas for the reply, > > On 11/13/2017 08:59 PM, Jonas Smedegaard wrote: > > Quoting IOhannes m zmölnig (Debian/GNU) (2017-11-13 19:59:28) > >> > >> a good name might be "video-player" or "desktop-video-player" (i'd > >> favour the first). > >> > >> > >> what do you think? > >> if we can come to a consensus, i'd propose this on debian-devel. > > > > To address bug#881326, fallback dependencies should be limited to tools > > not exploding in your face in a non-GUI environment, and tools using > > same syntax to play media. > > hmm, well: > in the specific case of bug#881326, it turned out that the > "Recommends:mpv" was indeed intended to mean "mpv" specifically, rather > than "a generic video player" (as i originally assumed). > so for bug#881326, the "video-player" virtual package is irrelevant anyhow. > > however, i still think being able to install "*a* video player capable > of playing my video collection" is a desirable goal. > > > Simplest approach to address issues like bug#881326 generally would > > probably be to extend package sensible-utils with a "sensible-player", > > knowledgeable about the possible players in Debian fitting the critera.> > > /etc/alternatives could be used (in addition to or instead of > > sensible-utils helper) to provide local sysadmin freedom to prioritize > > among multiple installed players. > > i personally favour a decentralized effort, where any sensible video > player can declare their usability themselves (rather than depending on > a gatekeeper (sensible-utils) to decide which one is part of that group). > (just telling; sensible-utils allows for such a decentralized workflow > anyhow) > i consider "sensible-player" a bad naming (for the thing i was > proposing), as it is too generic.
Ok. Then how about doing this, for each video player package: * Package "Provides:" gui-video-player * postinst script register with update-alternatives as providing "/usr/bin/gui-video-player". Done. > in any case, i don't really buy the "not exploding in your face in a > non-GUI environment" argument, in this case. > i'm talking explicitly about an application that displays videos as > pixel data. i see little (useful) ways to not have a GUI (that is: an > X-server or the like) to display a video. Fine - that simply means that you only care about the gui case, not the non-gui-supportive case - which is fine by me - I just recommend to then include "gui" in the virtual name to make that constraint explicit. (alternative keyword is "x11" but I guess in these modern times with Wayland it might be more sensible with the more abstract "gui") > the proposal was modeled after the already existing "pdf-viewer", with > similar uses. > afaict, each "pdf-viewer" will pull in GUI (so you can actually *view* > something). > as a consequence, it is hardly ever "depended" on (mostly recommended or > suggested) - it's perfectly valid to store PDFs on your fileserver that > doesn't have a desktop; otoh, many people who install PDFs via packages > might actually want to look at them. > similarily, i suspect that most people installing software to download > movies will actually want some way to view them (and then there's a few > who don't). If you propose something as vague as "pdf-viewer" then I disagree there is a need for it. Can you elaborate on use cases? It is common in Debian to include a bunch of PDF documents in a package and then declare sloppily "needs a viewer for this stuff" without a need for triggering said viewer - but I am unaware that it is common in Debian to ship a bunch of video files needing similar package hinting. If you want to hint to _users_ that they can pick whatever, then a better approach than virtual package name is to use debtags: axi-cache search video::player interface::graphical (...and then update debtags for e.g. mpv to improve such lookups) - Jonas -- * Jonas Smedegaard - idealist & Internet-arkitekt * Tlf.: +45 40843136 Website: http://dr.jones.dk/ [x] quote me freely [ ] ask before reusing [ ] keep private _______________________________________________ pkg-multimedia-maintainers mailing list pkg-multimedia-maintainers@lists.alioth.debian.org http://lists.alioth.debian.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/pkg-multimedia-maintainers