(thanks for prodding me...you never know, indeed, though I still read
-boot...;-) )
I have no idea whether the following is practical, and/or makes sense
regarding d-i's logic, etc., but I'm wondering whether it would be
possible to have checking "Debian Pure Blends" activate a follow-up
screen which would list all Blends. This way, we would get the previous
tasksel screen back, and only present the Blends to users who're
actually asking for it. And that, without changing anything in debconf,
its (non-)support for structure prompts, etc. Merging two tasks lists
obtained in two stages shouldn't be too hard, I suppose. But does that
make sense?
Again, Christian is more knowledgeable in this area, and might have more
insight.
I tried to read the whole thread and then I'll summarize my thoughts.
At first, I'm not happy with the idea of Pure Blends tasks mixing up
with standard tasks. I fully respect the work done by the variou sblends
teams, but having our usual longstanding "standard" tasks kinda lost in
the middle of "strange" and obscure tasks which the average user has no
idea about what they're about...is a no-no for me.
I still remember Joey's objections about *not* having users forced to
choose between desktop environments....because, contrary to what the
average geek thinks, most people have no idea about what is a desktop
environment. So, just imagine if we present them with "Hamradio",
"NeuroDebian", "Debian Med" and such a list of unsorted strange things.
Not to mention that most of these tasks titles wouldn't be translated,
while other tasks are.
So, yes, I'd object strongly to mixing up Blends tasks with other tasks.
I think that the idea of blends choice in the boot menu has already
ruled out for several reasons, so I won't develop here, but just add one
more reason : this is untranslatable.
That leaves us with the idea of a "Debian Blends" choice in the standard
task menu, which would lead to a dedicated "blends" menu. I think this
is the best compromise to do, provided we find a good name for the menu
entry : "Debian Blends" or "Debian pure Blends" is a great name for the
project in its entirety...but probably not for the menu entry. Again,
because it means nothing to Joe User.
So, with something like "Special-purpose packages" or "Specialized
installations" or whatever along those lines, *then* a menu with the
Blends list (unsorted) and the possibility of going back just in case
people see the list and think "heck, I have no idea about what this
stuff is about"....then I'd say this is the way to go.
