FYI, Eric is talking about a feature commonly requested for
dpkg/apt: Marking a package as selected only because of
dependencies, so it can be automatically deselected. It might be
interesting to see how he implements it.
Andrew
PS. Email cc:'s appreciated.
----- Forwarded message from "Eric S. Raymond" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -----
Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2000 12:50:40 -0400
From: "Eric S. Raymond" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Jesse Pollard <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED],
"'Eric S. Raymond'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: CML2 0.2.0
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Jesse Pollard <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
> > I am not familiar in how this works, but it would be cool if those
> > requirements were marked as "weak" and un-marked if the option relying
> > on them is.
> >
> > i.e.
> > I have driver "foo" requiring "bar". If I mark foo, I want bar to be marked.
> > But if then I change my mind and unmark foo, I wish for bar to be unmarked
> > (unless explicitly re-marked). But if I select first bar and then foo, then
> > bar is not to be de-selected when foo is.
>
> Also: if there is a driver baz that also requires bar we would want bar
> included
> if EITHER foo or baz were selected, but bar should not be included only
> if BOTH foo and baz are deslected... Choosing foo should mark bar; Choosing
> baz should also mark bar; But if foo is deselected, then bar should not be
> unmarked since baz is still selected...
I've actually been thinking about something similar, but before this morning
I didn't have a semantics for it that I liked. How about this?
* Implement a stack of "weak" bindings for each symbol, each associated
with the symbol that forced it. A user setting overrides all weak bindings,
otherwise more recent ones have priority over older ones. Whenever a symbol
changes value all the weak bindings it forces go away (then it may make new
ones). Indicate weak bindings with a distinguished foreground color.
--
<a href="http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr";>Eric S. Raymond</a>
He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from
oppression: for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that
will reach unto himself.
-- Thomas Paine
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--
Where is the innovation? Microsoft, mostly.
- Rob Pike, "Systems Software Research is Irrelevant"
http://www.cs.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/who/rob/utah2000.ps
