On Thu, Feb 20, 2003 at 09:06:38PM +1100, Daniel Stone wrote:
> On Wed, Feb 19, 2003 at 11:50:38PM +0000, Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton scrawled:
> > [kasnip]
> >
> > xserver-xfree86 _definitely_ depends on xfonts-base, despite what
> > you think.
> >
> > if xserver-xfree86 doesn't work without xfonts-base installed,
> > then there is a dependency!
> >
> > there is no escaping that simple fact!
>
> It's perfectly possible to have fonts without xfonts-base: just install
> xfs on a remote machine. This is what a lot of large labs, etc, do - it
> centralizes resources.
yes, i did that: i installed xfs (on the local machine).
i am impressed that xfs can do remote fonts, that had not
occurred to me.
> > logical inescapable conclusion: xserver needs fonts!
>
> Yes, but not through xfonts-base. It can be through any mechanism.
[i understand: i didn't mention that i had installed xfs i left
that out in order to keep the report shorter]
> > the dependency is expressed via the meta-package, x-window-system.
>
> Yes.
>
> > therefore, whatever the dependencies that x-window-system lists
> > must ALSO apply to all its REAL packages.
>
> No; otherwise we wouldn't need metapackages.
>
> > so, even if you "jump in", as i did, into installing only
> > a limited subset of packages, there HAS to be some way of
> > saying "this might not work".
>
> xserver-xfree86 Recommends: xfonts-base - dselect and aptitude should
> handle this correctly.
apt-get did not.
i use neither dselect nor aptitude, they are curses / GUI based and
therefore confusing to me.
> > you see, it's not that x-window-system-core depends on xserver-xfree86,
> > xlibmesa3, xfonts-base, xfonts-100dpi, xfonts-75dpi, xfonts-scalable,
> > xbase-clients and xutils.
> >
> > it's that xserver-xfree86 CANNOT WORK WITHOUT those packages installed.
>
> Nope - it can work without xlibmesa3, without any font packages, without
> xbase-clients, and without xutils. Who says your fonts and running apps
> have to be local?
i understand this: i installed xfs, and xfstt, and xfont-100dpi,
and xfont-this-and-that, and a whole load of other stuff that
i forget now.
in fact everything _but_ xfonts-base because it disappeared in
the list of apt-cache search xfonts.
> > if xserver-xfree86 does not work without x-window-system's group
> > of packages having been installed, then this needs to be specified.
>
> Only thing, it does.
... how??
> > "you are about to install the following package however it is
> > unlikely to work unless you install one of the following:
> > x-window-system; y-window-system ..." do you wish to proceed
> > yes or no.
>
> xserver-xfree86, as I said above, recommends that you install
> xfonts-base, through its Recommends: xfonts-base relationship.
then why did apt-get not advise me of that recommendation,
note that it is not installed, and ask me if i wanted to
add it to the list of packages to install?
also, xfs i note does not have such a Recommends: xfonts-base.
> > if you believe that xserver-xfree86 is _not_ dependent upon
> > xfonts-base, then why is it possible to install xserver-xfree86
> > at all when neither the meta package x-window-system nor
> > x-window-system-core nor the real package xfonts-base is
> > not installed?
>
> Because you can still have a flawlessly working X system without it?
> Hell, you could run KDE if you liked.
ick! :)
the following command doesn't even work if you don't
have xfonts-base:
XFree86 -configfile /etc/X11/XF86Config-4
the following command _also_ does not work if you do not
have xfonts-base:
xf86cfg
yes i had installed xfs, and hand-edited the config file
to include "unix/:7100".
no this did not fix the problem.
> > if x-window-system is a meta-package that installs
> > xserver-xfree86, what is the equivalent package to
> > x-window-system that gets xserver-mach32 installed, or
> > xserver-svga installed?
>
> AFAIK, there is none for the XFree86 3.3.x servers; such is life.
ah, well :)
but you appreciate why i mention it?
let's assume that an x-window-system-mach32 exists etc.
which depends on xserver-XXXXX wher XXXXX is the same
as x-window-system-XXXX
surely this is painful, and because it is painful
this issue has not been fixed?
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