[indiana-discuss] "no scripting zone" and isaexec(3C) == architectural

[Robert Milkowski]

On Mon, 15 Jun 2009, Peter Tribble wrote:

> On Sat, Jun 13, 2009 at 1:24 AM, Bart Smaalders<bart.smaalders at sun.com> wrote:
>>
>> Because the job of the packaging system is to manage software
>> on the machine according to the constraints imposed on that software
>> by its developer, and by the administrator.
>
> Yet you're denying administrators and customers the ability to impose those
> constraints.
>
> Dependencies are a case in point. They are simply input to a policy. A sensible
> default policy may be "follow the dependencies and install everything along the
> way". Some others may want to say "stop dead in your tracks if you need to
> install something that isn't already installed or that I've explicitly
> asked for". Another
> possibility is "do what you're told and ignore any dependencies". All have their
> place. The packaging system should enable the implementation of those
> policies, not unconditionally force its own policy decisions on users.
>


Agree in 100%.

Most package managers (rpm in example) allow to install or remove a 
package without dependencies and sometimes it is useful.

The default should be to install or uninstall with dependencies but unless 
these depended packages have been explicitly specified it should be at 
least interactive or an extra switch should be required IMHO.

So for example if I want to uninstall a package A I won't end-up with 
another 20 packages being installed automatically. I know one can check 
dependencies in advance but still...

-- 
Robert Milkowski
http://milek.blogspot.com