[Pkg-octave-devel] Octave Package Meta-Package

[Rafael Laboissiere]

* John W. Eaton <jwe at bevo.che.wisc.edu> [2008-05-18 10:36]:

> On 18-May-2008, Bill Denney wrote:
> 
> | Would it be feasible to make a meta-package that depends on the current 
> | version of all octave packages?
> 
> I would prefer to avoid doing this.

Me too.  I do not see the point in doing it.  You can anyway obtain a similar
effect by doing:

    apt-get install $(apt-cache search --names-only octave- | cut -d' '  -f1)

> But if you decide to do it, then please avoid including packages that
> replace core Octave functions, or at least avoid loading those packages by
> default.  I think users should be aware that they are replacing core
> functions, otherwise, there is likely to be confusion when they get
> different results depending on whether they have some optional package
> installed.  It seems likely that they won't even know that an optional
> package has been installed, or that a core function has been replaced.

I agree with John on the above, in principle.  However, I just uploaded the
octave-nan package that overrides some core functions.  I did patch the
package in order to have its functions autoloaded.  As I explained in
previous thread [1] in this mailing list, I think that it is important in
Debian that packages "work" out of the box by default.

We might consider introducing a debconf question asking something like:

      By installing this package (octave-nan), some core functions
      of Octave will be overridden, unless you choose to not 
      autoload the functions.

      Should the octave-nan functions be autoloaded (default: Yes)?

                 <Yes>           <No>
   
This may be an overkill, though.

[1] http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/pkg-octave-devel/2008-May/004195.html

-- 
Rafael