On Thu, Jul 28, 2005 at 10:45:31AM +0200, Thomas Viehmann wrote: > Martin v. Loewis wrote: > > Thomas Viehmann wrote: > >>- What's the current best practice of linking doc and library packages? > > I don't know; how can I find out? Neither section 7 nor section 12.3 > > of the Policy Manual seem to talk about this specific question. > Hmm. Based on my own (not very large) sample of current practice, a > Suggests seems to be commonly used. (libc6, python, as well as some > python-* use Suggests, perl uses Recommends, but that might be a bit much.)
Correct. "Recommends" is a weak "Depends", not a strong "Suggests".
Generally speaking, if
Package: A
Recommends: B
then
(1) A can be installed and configured before B, and
(2) A will not break anything if the user tries to run it
without B, but
(3) A is more or less useless without B.
The "Recommends" relationship implies that if you want A, then you also
want B---that installing A without B is abnormal and probably useless.
If B merely provided additional functionality most users of A would
want, then the correct relationship would be "Suggests". In assessing
this, the maintainer should consider the variety of users: some users do
not run X; some users develop embedded systems; some users are Debian
beginners; etc. None of these users is necessarily abnormal.
A typical use of "Recommends" is when A needs B, but cannot "Depends: B"
because, during installation, B requires A to be configured first.
Notice the technical nature of this typical use. "Recommends" does not
really mean "recommends" in the normal English-language sense of the
word. It is better to think of "Recommends" as a technical term meaning
"weakly depends on". The Debian relationship usually corresponding to
the English word "recommends" is "Suggests".
I think that that captures the essence of the concept, but if an
in-depth discussion is wanted, see the subthread beginning at [1].
Otherwise, if in doubt, choose "Suggests".
Good luck with python-xlib, Martin.
--
Thaddeus H. Black
508 Nellie's Cave Road
Blacksburg, Virginia 24060, USA
+1 540 961 0920, [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[1] http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2004/11/msg00785.html
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