On Wed, 7 Apr 1999, Santiago Vila wrote: > Yet another thing could be done: rewrite the install-mime > mechanism and convert it into something like the menu system. > > The menu system does not have this problem, because it "collects" > the menu entries of each package on the background.
The menu system simply builds its database out of a bunch of files in /usr/lib/menu. This is indeed an alternative, although it would require that the package that keeps the database provides such the necessary scripts, which means predicting patches etc. (Another interesting application: Make sure that a patch is installed). Also, it requires the user to keep databases he did not request to install (The menu files are there, whether the menu package is installed or not). This is only a small problem, because the postinst script would have to be there, too, but it is easier to mount /var/lib/dpkg over the net if it doesn't fit than all the database directories. The menufile approach is certainly a thing I could live with, although it is not as flexible as the "affects" keyword. Simon
