On Thu, 24 Jun 1999, Ionutz Borcoman wrote:
> Norbert Nemec wrote:
> >
> > Guess, that idea already has been discussed and ruled out, but still I think
> > it may serve better:
> >
> > Why not put some kind of a sign on every non-free package, instead of moving
> > those packages anywhere? There is a number of ways that could be done
> > - something in the name of the package
> > - a message when installing the package
> > - something that shows up clearly in dselect/apt
>
> My own opinion is that the best would be to keep the current splitting
> of the packages (main, non-free and contrib), but add these:
> - as suggested, a file that briefly explain why package is in non-free
> - same stuff added to the description of the package
>
> Contrib shouldn't go in main for a very simple reason: all those
> packages will not install because of missing dependencies. There are
As you indicate later, this is how it should be. If you haven't selected a
non-free archives to include in available, then you will not be able to
install those, otherwise free, software packages.
If you try to install one of these without having the non-free packages in
available, then you will not be allowed to install it without overrides.
With only a little additional skill, dpkg/dselect could inform the user of
the reason for the non-installation, telling them that a non-free package
is needed by this otherwise free one.
> already a lot of packages that overwhelms the newcommer. I used to lose
> a lot of time when I was installing for the first time a Debian, only
> because of browsing our packages. And if we drop the dependencies, we
> will look exactly like RH: we will have a bunch of packages that
> installs and then don't work.
While I agree it would be stupid, the part about RH is just FUD.
Luck,
Dwarf
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