On Tue, 2006-04-25 at 08:48, Joey Hess wrote: > FWIW, I advocated using packages with collections of recommends as task > packages when the task system was being designed, but the idea was > discarded for various reasons. You can find the full details of that > decision in the threads starting here, but I don't see much point in > rehashing it since very little of relevance has changed since: > http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2000/08/msg00696.html > http://lists.debian.org/debian-boot/2001/05/msg00075.html
The decision to go with tasks rather than metapackage recommendations seems to have happened largely by default. One proto-DPL wrote that task fields were "the only way around this I can think of"[0] and provided sample code. Another developer pointed out the many advantages of metapackage recommendations[1], including heirarchical structure and that it would not be difficult to deploy as the infrastructure already existed. AJ was correct when he wrote that "the complexity of dependency specifications just isn't warranted"[2] for tasks but the unintended side-effect was that we now have two dependency mechanisms to track and, although tasks started out simple, the magic hooks that have been have caused task dependencies to become opaque to the point that programs cannot reason about them without emulating tasksel in a simulated environment[3]. Metapackage recommendations are not then "a solution in search of a problem"[4] but rather a proposed solution to the opacity and complexity which now bedevil automated reasoning about tasks. So Mr Hess, you were right when you espoused metapackage recommendations six years ago. As for what has changed since then: * We now have time to consider the problem logically rather than conceding defeat to the first sample of working code[5]. * We now have tools such as wajig[6,7] and aag[8,9] which can install a metapackage with its recommendations without changing the meaning of "apt-get install". (And such functionality could be added to apt-get if desired.) --Mike Bird [0] http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2000/08/msg00706.html [1] http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2000/08/msg00721.html [2] http://lists.debian.org/debian-boot/2001/05/msg00109.html [3] http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2006/04/msg00775.html [4] http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2006/04/msg00842.html [5] http://lists.debian.org/debian-boot/2001/05/msg00119.html [6] http://www.togaware.com/wajig/ [7] http://packages.debian.org/stable/admin/wajig [8] http://www.formorer.de/code/aag/aag.html [9] http://www.formorer.de/code/aag/aag -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
