On Fri 12 Jul 2019 at 11:23:56 -0400, Dan Ritter wrote: > Jonas Smedegaard wrote: > > Quoting Stephan Seitz (2019-07-12 09:30:38) > > > On Fr, Jul 12, 2019 at 09:13:29 -0300, Jonas Smedegaard wrote: > > > >Wrong. Suggests are for packages useful only "sometimes", recommends > > > >are for pacakges needed in "all but unusual installations." > > > > > > From my experience this is wrong. > > > > > > With recommends my d10 update would have systemd as init instead of > > > sysvinit. And I would have got (for example) the package debsecan > > > which I don’t need. > > > > > > So it is better to disable recommends and look at the recommended > > > packages. > > > > There is nothing wrong in suppressing specific recommendations where you > > understand the implications. > > > > What is wrong is to suppress all recommendations by default. > > There's nothing wrong with suppressing all recommendations by > default, as long as you're willing to go back in and install > particular packages when you realize you want what they do.
I'll go along with Jonas Smedegaard's advice. When a user knows what he is doing, not installing Recommends: is the result of a deliberate and considered decision. If the user makes not having recommended packages the default on his system, I can assure you (having done it) that realisation sometimes comes at a substantial price, especially when more than one package is involved. The average user loses nothing by ignoring suggestions not to install Recommends: across the board. They will be happier with their Debian system - and that is what we all want, eh? -- Brian.
