Hi
On 17/08/13 18:42, Ralf Mardorf wrote:
> On Sat, 2013-08-17 at 17:40 +0100, "Karl E. Jørgensen" wrote:
>> Technically, a dummy package is never "needed"
> Hi Karl,
>
> I disagree, in the past years I build a pulseaudio package because it
> was needed. Now I need to fake that pulseaudio and gvfs are installed,
> because Debian and Ubuntu follow upstream and add them as hard
> dependency to some packages, but they are a PITA and definitely optional
> dependencies. At least I want audio working and not be forced to install
> crap, that will kill my external HDD.
Oh well. I'm forced to concede that my statement about dummy packages
"never being needed" was overly broad then :-)
As for the pulseaudio example, I was not aware that the dependency was
entirely optional. I haven't actually checked on my system, but I'll
take your word for it.
If a package declares a "hard" dependency on another package, but the
depended-upon-package is not truly needed, then I think you should raise
a bug on the offending package to that effect. The weaker dependencies
("Recommends:"/"Suggests:") sound more appropriate there.
> JFTR I've got a professional sound card installed and even if pulseaudio
> always could be turned off without causing side effects, I won't install
> bad designed software I don't like. My HDD fulfills the EU Regulation,
> IOW it will park after a while, but gvfs will make drives that fulfil
> the EU Regulation spin down and up again and again, it's completely
> broken software nobody with modern external drives should install.
Hm. That sounds like a bug/feature in gvfs - which could be a result of
bad design. Are you implying that pulseaudio is badly designed? Just
curios; I have no intention of re-igniting the pulseaudio debates I've
seen on the mailing lists and forums in the past...
> Resume, a dummy always is needed, when upstream and/or package builders
> will make Linux less good to customize, but we want to install packages
> from repositories.
Ah. "Always needed when ...." - which (technically) is not *always* then :-)
Linux (by which I presume you mean Debian, as "Linux" refers to the
kernel, and we're discussing userspace stuff here) is not perfect, and
upstream/packagers do make the occasional mistake. I can live with
that. And in your case, a dummy package appears to be a good solution to
the problem you encountered.
I *do* feel that dummy packages *should* not be needed - but they do
seem helpful in working around problems. But let's not forget to solve
the problem which caused the necessity of the dummy package.
Regards
--
Karl
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