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I've closed this bug already (had to wait for the PR#).
Sorry for the commotion... some comments follow.
>>>>> "Rob" == Rob Tillotson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Rob> "Juergen A. Erhard" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>> Package: task-python-dev
>> Version: N/A;
>> Severity: important
Rob> ^^^^^^^^^
Rob> Really? Is this really release-critical? Personally, I think
Rob> _closed_ would be a more appropriate state for this non-bug.
Serious brain-fart on my side... sorry, bug is closed.
I look(ed) at the task-* packages from an "installed system" point: "I
need this, so let's see if I can use it."
Actually, I didn't use any profiles or tasks when I installed my
Debian all those years ago... I only used a profile once, when I
installed hamm on my laptop. Utter failure, I can tell you. Those
profiles (or in modern parlance, task packages) are just too big.
If there were some sub-selection feature, like in MS-Windows' install
routine (yes, there *are* some things that MS got right), task
packages would be so much more useful.
>> There are too many Depends... most of those should be Suggests:,
>> and some of them should be dropped completely.
>>
>> Stuff like python-gtk is okay, I think.
Rob> Three GUI libraries are fine, but two SQL interfaces are too
Rob> many?
I didn't go into the Depends: very deeply...
>> Stuff I would move to suggestions:
>>
>> gadfly: if I use PostgreSQL, I have no use for this...
Rob> task-python-dev is supposed to be a catch-all package, a way
Rob> of saying "please give me everything a Python programmer
Rob> might use, I'll sort through it later". It's not about what
Rob> you have a use for, or what I have a use for, or what the
Rob> maintainer has a use for, it's about what constitutes
Rob> "everything Python".
That's what I realized/remembered *after* sending the PR. :-(
Rob> Task packages will never satisfy any particular individual
Rob> completely; they are a way of rapidly getting a lot of useful
Rob> stuff, with the tradeoff that you get some useless stuff as
Rob> well. We can't tell in advance what is "useful" and
Rob> "useless" to any particular person in advance. For example,
Rob> most Python developers probably won't use three different GUI
Rob> libraries, yet there they are in task-python-dev... because
Rob> we don't know which one users want. If you know what
Rob> specific packages you need, task-python-dev is not for you.
As a means to get an overview ("Show me all the python stuff I could
need" "Okay, but I don't need gadfly <presses _>") they are `nice'.
But as for using them during initial installation, I still think most
task-* packages are overkill.
[SNIP reasons for having Gadfly...]
Rob> I won't comment on the other specific packages you list,
Rob> because the argument is the same for all of them: you may not
Rob> personally have a use for them, but I could say the same
Rob> about some stuff that you probably DO use. If we are going
Rob> to start arguing about what is useful or useless, we might as
Rob> well drop task packages altogether and go back to making
Rob> everyone scroll through the list of stuff in dselect...
As I said in my close message to the BTS, I think the task-* packages
are an ugly kludge.
>> I think all the task-python* packages lack focus...
Rob> They do? task-python and task-python-bundle are just small
Rob> and full versions of the basic Python install; if you think
Rob> they lack focus, ask Guido to stop putting so much stuff into
Rob> the Python library. task-python-web seems like a rather
Rob> obvious one, and it seems to be right on target. So the only
Rob> one at issue is task-python-dev, which is explicitly a
Rob> catch-all.
task-python-web is not right on target, IMNSHO. It pulls in
python-graphics, which in turn pulls in yorick. Now, how many people
doing *-web stuff need scientific graphics? Or, to make it more
obvious: how many people selecting a "*-web" package would expect a
scientific graphics package being installed?
Rob> Maybe in woody we can have some more task-python-* packages
Rob> for more kinds of Python programming...
Rob> task-python-scientific and task-python-sql might be good
Rob> ones, for example. But for now, the current ones are fine.
As fine as the current system permits. :-(
But let's leave it at that... as I said, I closed the bug.
Bye, J
- --
Jürgen A. Erhard eMail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] phone: (GERMANY) 0721 27326
MARS: http://Juergen_Erhard.tripod.com/mars_index.html
"Outside of a dog, a man's best friend is a book;
inside of a dog, it's very dark." -- Groucho Marx
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