[Pkg-xfce-devel] Bug#515186: Bug#515186: xfdesktop4: Please only recommend xfce4-utils

[Elrond]

Hi,

On Mon, Feb 16, 2009 at 10:27:19AM +0100, Yves-Alexis Perez wrote:
> On lun, 2009-02-16 at 08:41 +0100, Xr wrote:
> > I tend to disagree. I hardly ever install recommended packages and never
> > see anything break. Missing functionalities are OK, but not breakage.

If you don't install any Recommends, you declare your
system "unusual".


> > I'm not really against putting xfce4-utils in the "Recommends" field,
> > but it shouldn't break anything. If it breaks anything, then the package
> > should depend on it.
> 
> Well, that's the point since the beginning. What's a ???missing
> functionality??? and what a ???breakage???. And basically in some case it's
> not possible to please everyone.

Well, the question is, what we call "acceptable on an
unusual install", because that's the text in the policy.

My interpretation of "unusual" is: You accept some
problems, and you accept to be responsible for analyzing
those problems first before crying "There's a bug". And if
the answer is "I missed to install package Y, despite it
being reocmmended", it's all your fault. ;)


Here's one example I could quickly dig up:

* libdbus-1-3 recommends dbus. Without dbus libdbus-1-3 is
  nearly unusable, and there wont be any desktop messaging.
  But people can live without it sometimes (me!).


> (and Recommends: are installed by
> default, if you don't install them it was a choice and they are
> displayed as Recommended anyway)

IMHO there are exactly two good reason for not installing a
recommends:
1) You know, what you're doing
AND
2) To conserve resources.


Cheers,

    Elrond