On Fri, Jul 30, 1999 at 08:59:08PM -0600, John Galt wrote: > On Sat, 31 Jul 1999, Hamish Moffatt wrote: > > > I don't feel strongly enough about this topic to reply to each of your > > points. I agree that some MUAs (specifically pine and netscape) are > > operable without a local MTA. I do not see that this warrants any > > action ie modification of packages. For most users, an MTA is required. > > This actually is the definition of Recommends:, not Depends:. A Depends: > is something that IN ALL CASES the lack of will cripple the dependent > package, something that we both agree won't happen across the board for > all MUAs.
Technically correct. However, I feel that the relationship is stronger than Recommends. > Okay, make it Required--making it a Depends: on a possibly Extra package > in that case is ludicrous. BTW you're right--a *nix without a MTA is > crippled, I just don't see a MUA without a local MTA as crippled. Then is there an issue? > > I don't see how having an MTA installed unnecessarily adds an > > additional point of failure; pine and netscape store their mail in > > private directories, so damage to /var/spool/mail would be inconsequential. > > I didn't say it was an additional point of failure, I said that it was a Well, you did say Who benefits now? A MTA that requires, ohhhh say PERL for example, could actually nuke the entire mailing system on an upgrade, removing both the If you think pine should not depend on mail-transport-agent, then file a bug report. mutt DOES require one for sending mail, and it does depend on mail-transport-agent. Hamish -- Hamish Moffatt VK3SB (ex-VK3TYD). CCs of replies from mailing lists are welcome.
