On Sat 12 Nov 2016 at 20:27:37 (-0500), Felix Miata wrote:
> Brian composed on 2016-11-12 15:45 (UTC):
>
> >On Sat 12 Nov 2016 at 13:45:38 +0000, Lisi Reisz wrote:
>
> >>Brian wrote:
>
> >>> Not installing a recommended package on a default Debian would be a bug.
>
> >>Aptitude on my current almost vanilla temporary Jessie install doesn't
> >>install
> >>recommends. But it makes a big point of telling me a) that they are
> >>recommended and b) that they are not going to be installed. I then often,
> >>but not always, install them. It doesn't strike me as a bug. This is
> >>Debian
> >>not Ubuntu.
>
> >>I could, of course, reset aptitude. I am quite happy with the status quo.
>
> >Never really used aptitude but I've just installed it and ran the curses
> >variety of the program. "options" at the top of the screen shows
>
> >Option: Apt::Install-Recommends
> >Default: True
> >Value: True
>
> I'd like to know how you found the above. Running aptitude 0.6.11 on
> vtty3 here as root in 8.6 I'm unable to find anything like that from
> its Options menu, or anywhere else.
I type "?" which gives a list of key bindings. About 30 lines down it says
Control-t: Activate or deactivate the menu.
so I "q" back to the View and press "Ctrl-T" which pulls down the leftmost
menu (Actions). Use ← or → to get to the sixth menu which is Options.
Select the first item, Preferences and you get UI Options. Again, about
30 ↓ keystrokes gets to the line with, and when you're on it, the lower
pane displays as above and gives a few lines of explanation. The line is
[X] Install recommended packages automatically
Where in that sequence does your aptitude behave differently?
> >The behaviour of your aptitude is presumably because you have adjusted
> >the default behaviour in some way. The new behaviour is not a bug.
>
> >Also, a default Debian doesn't have aptitude but apt-get. which installs
> >recommended packages by default.
>
> I booted 5 of 6 Jessie installations here in recent minutes. All contain
>
> APT::Install-Recommends "false";
>
> in /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/00InstallRecommends. Timestamp on the file on
> the currently booted installation is 366 days old, same as on the
> previous one or two booted (timestamp not noticed on the first two
> or three).
>
> All my Jessie installations were made via HTTP, started from Grub,
> including the following on the cmdline:
>
> ...tasks=standard base-installer/install-recommends=false...
>
> What a "default" Debian installation includes or not I may never
> have seen, at least not since my first, Etch, as all since, and
> maybe Etch too, have been installed in same manner.
I don't understand what you mean by "via HTTP, started from Grub".
I install Debian systems either by upgrading from a previous version,
or by booting up a CD, normally a netinst version. The latter always
boots straight into the screen where one can choose "Advanced Options"
and "Expert Install" (my choices) or other options. I don't even recall
whether Grub is doing the booting, or one of those other methods like
syslinux etc. It all just flashes by.
Cheers,
David.
