Your message dated Mon, 28 Sep 2009 08:25:35 +0200
with message-id <20090928062535.ga6...@rivendell>
and subject line Re: Bug#548661: dpkg: Override package dependencies
has caused the Debian Bug report #548661,
regarding dpkg: Override package dependencies
to be marked as done.
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548661: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=548661
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--- Begin Message ---
Package: dpkg
Version: 1.15.3.1
Severity: wishlist
In bug#542095, I think the right solution is to make it possible for the user
to specify "overrides" on package dependencies (e.g. to say "install gnome, but
ignore the dependency on network-manager").
The idea is the following: normally, hard-dependencies represent situations
where the other package is absolutely needed for the package to work properly.
Now, clearly sometimes this rule requires interpretation to decide whether it's
really a hard dependency or just a recommends.
In the case of meta-packages, hard-dependencies are actually pretty much never
true. So it'd be OK for a power-user to decide not to install the dependency.
I can see several ways to provide such a feature. An easy one would be to alow
users to shoot themselves in the foot and override *any* dependency. A more
discriminating one could let the user only do it for those dependencies known
to be a bit soft (e.g. the dependencies of meta-packages, or other dependencies
specially specified as such; that would be halfway between a hard dependency
and a "recommends"), so a user could for example remove "hal" while still
installing xserver-xorg because he knows he'll write his xorg.conf accordingly.
-- System Information:
Debian Release: squeeze/sid
APT prefers testing
APT policy: (990, 'testing'), (500, 'unstable'), (500, 'stable')
Architecture: i386 (i686)
Kernel: Linux 2.6.30-1-686 (SMP w/2 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=fr_CH.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=fr_CH.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Versions of packages dpkg depends on:
ii coreutils 7.4-2 The GNU core utilities
ii libc6 2.9-25 GNU C Library: Shared libraries
ii lzma 4.43-14 Compression method of 7z format in
dpkg recommends no packages.
Versions of packages dpkg suggests:
ii apt 0.7.23.1 Advanced front-end for dpkg
-- no debconf information
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
Hi,
On Sun, 27 Sep 2009, Stefan Monnier wrote:
> In bug#542095, I think the right solution is to make it possible for the
> user to specify "overrides" on package dependencies (e.g. to say
> "install gnome, but ignore the dependency on network-manager").
No, that's definitely not a "right" solution. Overridable dependencies are
recommends and we already have them.
Changing the behaviour of Depends is all but reasonable. Sorry, I'm
closing this feature request.
Improvements for handling meta-packages are possible but it's all in the
realm of apt and co, not dpkg.
Cheers,
--
Raphaël Hertzog
--- End Message ---
