Groups | Search | Server Info | Keyboard shortcuts | Login | Register [http] [https] [nntp] [nntps]

Groups > linux.debian.user > #197791

Re: An introduction to Debian's topology/structure/???

Show all headers | View raw

On 07/18/2018 09:06 AM, Michael Stone wrote:
> On Wed, Jul 18, 2018 at 08:44:13AM -0500, Richard Owlett wrote:
>> First I'm looking comparison of required, important, standard, 
>> optional, and extra as package labels [particularly interested in 
>> corner cases]. I've been looking at 
>> [https://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/]. I'm not grasping 
>> something. Not sure what ;/
> 
> Well, it's hard to answer questions when you don't ask a question. For 
> the most part the priorities don't matter much, and are largely a 
> historical curiosity. Extra is gone, standard and important don't mean 
> much. So most packages are optional, and a few that should be really 
> hard to remove are required. Being required has the possible advantage 
> that other packages don't need to explicitly list dependencies on the 
> required package (but in practice you usually end up with a versioned 
> libc6 dependency anyway). It does save a bit on the overhead of every 
> single package having dependencies on /bin/sh and coreutils that the 
> dependency resolver would then have to consider.
> 

I was, I thought, asking for explicit distinctions between adjacent 
priorities. Your reply was that the distinctions were no longer germane. 
That, effectively there are now only two, required and optional.

That changes the landscape surrounding a personal project. Which some 
might describe as an extremely minimalist Debian. I would rather 
describe it as a "proper subset" of Debian for a particular use. That is 
why, in another thread, I ask about "Debian from Scratch".

That leads to asking two related questions:
  1. How can I get a list of packages tagged as required?
  2. What section of the installer installs packages tagged as required?
     I assume the answer will, in part, be a referral to some developer
     oriented documentation. [My motivation is personal education rather
     that creating the next "killer app].

I will then investigate which of my optional packages already have an 
explicit dependence on a "required" app. That will allow me to enumerate 
which "required" packages *may* actually be unnecessary.

Thank you.

Back to linux.debian.user | Previous | Next — Previous in thread | Next in thread | Find similar | Unroll thread

Thread

An introduction to Debian's topology/structure/??? Richard Owlett <rowlett@cloud85.net> - 2018-07-18 15:50 +0200
  Re: An introduction to Debian's topology/structure/??? Michael Stone <mstone@debian.org> - 2018-07-18 16:10 +0200
    Re: An introduction to Debian's topology/structure/??? Richard Owlett <rowlett@cloud85.net> - 2018-07-19 13:40 +0200
      Re: An introduction to Debian's topology/structure/??? Jochen Spieker <ml@well-adjusted.de> - 2018-07-19 15:40 +0200
        Re: An introduction to Debian's topology/structure/??? Richard Owlett <rowlett@cloud85.net> - 2018-07-19 16:30 +0200
        Re: An introduction to Debian's topology/structure/??? Brian <ad44@cityscape.co.uk> - 2018-07-20 01:50 +0200
          Re: An introduction to Debian's topology/structure/??? Richard Owlett <rowlett@cloud85.net> - 2018-07-20 12:40 +0200
      Re: An introduction to Debian's topology/structure/??? David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2018-07-19 17:20 +0200
        Re: An introduction to Debian's topology/structure/??? Henrique de Moraes Holschuh <hmh@debian.org> - 2018-07-19 17:50 +0200
          Re: An introduction to Debian's topology/structure/??? Richard Owlett <rowlett@cloud85.net> - 2018-07-20 14:10 +0200
            Re: An introduction to Debian's topology/structure/??? David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2018-07-20 23:10 +0200
              Re: An introduction to Debian's topology/structure/??? Richard Owlett <rowlett@cloud85.net> - 2018-07-21 17:50 +0200
        Re: An introduction to Debian's topology/structure/??? Richard Owlett <rowlett@cloud85.net> - 2018-07-19 18:40 +0200

csiph-web