Hi. On Fri, Jul 12, 2019 at 12:24:49PM -0300, Jonas Smedegaard wrote: > Quoting Reco (2019-07-12 09:34:17) > > On Fri, Jul 12, 2019 at 09:13:29AM -0300, Jonas Smedegaard wrote: > > > Quoting Reco (2019-07-12 09:01:33) > > > > > > Disabling installing Recommends by default also helps a great > > > > > > deal with all those dependencies you don't want. > > > > > > > > > > Above may break your system in confusing to debug ways, > > > > > > > > Rly? Recommends are called that for a reason. > > > > > > Yes, and the reason is well defined: Packages requires in "all but > > > unusual installations." - quoted from Debian Policy ยง7.2. > > > > This only shows us that one can prove anything by using selective > > quoting. Full quote, btw is: > > > > This declares a strong, but not absolute, dependency. > > The Recommends field should list packages that would be found together > > with this one in all but unusual installations. > > > > > > Therefore Debian Policy explicitly says that Recommends are not > > required. > > Sorry if you feel that I mislead you by quoting narrowly. > I fail to recognize how your larger quote changes my point of mine, > however.
I see nothing to apologise for. You made some bold claims, I showed they do not universally apply. Each of us stayed at their respective opinions, let's leave it at that. > Indeed Debian policy do not _require_ recommendations. They do however > recommend to install them except in unusual installations. > Turning off recommendations is saying "this system is unusual in all > possible ways" which I insist is wrong and bad advice! And the key word here is "recommend". One of the biggest strengths in the Free Software lies in the putting the user in control. Mandating to install certain software, assuming that there's only one "right" way of doing things, using scare tactics like "system is unusual" - this reeks of non-free software from world-known commercial entities, and limiting the control of the user over their software. I say - if the user wants to "break" a system by not installing the Recommends - let them. Whenever it's curiosity, a way of learning something new or just a wish to do an OS liposuction. Either way it won't break (a hint - Recommends weren't always the default), or the user will learn something new in a process. Besides, they don't call Debian the Universal OS for nothing. It can tolerate the surprising amount of "breakage". Reco
