On Sun 30 Oct 2016 at 18:24:50 +0300, Reco wrote: > Hi. > > On Sun, 30 Oct 2016 14:20:44 +0000 > Brian <a...@cityscape.co.uk> wrote: > > > > printer-driver-hpcups and printer-driver-hpijs would be sufficient for > > just printing. That is why the packages are provided. > > 'Should be' does not equal 'actually working' in this case.
If you have a problem you should seek help by starting another thread. > You're missing the point. What's the reason to provide a GUI to a bunch > of CUPS filters in the first place? Why such GUI is needed for these > particular filters, but not CUPS itself? People like GUIs; I believe system-config-printer and the CUPS web interface are popular for setting up printers. None of them are needed but they fulfill a need. > > The "bizarre reason" reason is probably that the .py and .pyc files are > > platform independent. > > And the reason to put all those unrelated to actual printing files into > the package was? HPLIP does a bit more than handle printing. > > See above. > > Nope, does not cut it. A package does not provide anything written in > python by itself. Why does it depends on python then? Pass. > > main's ok. No non-free blobs are packaged. > > b43-fwcutter, flashplugin-nonfree or ttf-mscorefonts-installer (to name > a few) do not package blobs either, they *only* download and/or > process them. Yet all such things reside in 'contrib', not 'main'. I'm not getting into a comparison with every package of this nature in contrib. hp-plugin is not central to the function of suported hardware and HPLIP will work without it. The script is a convenience one for the user and is not run from the maintainer scripts. > > Possibly needed for installing a plugin. > > A 'plugin' to what? Did you mean a 'non-free' blob maybe? I was using HPs terminology. > Does this 'plugin' gets installed every time someone prints? No. > > > 4) avahi-daemon as Recommends. Apparently it's considered so important > > > that they recommend it again (CUPS has the same Recommend). Kind of > > > surprised not to see it as Depends. > > > > CUPS was installed without its Recommends: because you do not want to > > discover Bonjour broadcasted print queues. Later, HPLIP was installed > > and you want to discover Bonjour broadcasted HP printers. > > A weak argument as no other printer driver has this ridiculous > Recommends. One for the CUPS (where it serves its purpose indeed) is > enough. It's actually a very sound argument. Not wanting any of cups recommended packages is a respectable decision. > It would be a valid argument *if* one could install HPLIP without CUPS, > but currently 'hplip' depends on 'cups', so that's impossible. True. But I think you do not understand what different purposes cups and HPLIP use avahi-daemon for. I didn't use "print queues" and "printers" as a matter of style. > > A Depends: > > would be unsuitable if you were only setting up a USB printer. > > First, that logic did not stop them from forcing one to install a > PolicyKit, for instance. > Second, said USB printer can be shared over the network by CUPS, so > such dependency is actually justifiable. Setting up a *non-shared* USB printer. Clearer? Pass on the rest because packaging is not something I know much about, so I'm most likely to rely on the expertise of the maintainers. The changelog might give you some clue as to what is going on. -- Brian.
