[Tfug] [dmarti at zgp.org: [linux-elitists] Antipackages and surveys]

[Claude Rubinson]

Thought the following might be of interest to some.

C.

----- Forwarded message from Don Marti <dmarti at zgp.org> -----

From: Don Marti <dmarti at zgp.org>
Date: Sat, 12 Sep 2009 07:03:50 -0700
Subject: [linux-elitists] Antipackages and surveys
To: linux-elitists at zgp.org

Quite a while ago, some of us discussed the idea of
"antipackages" -- deb packages with _just conflicts_,
no actual software.

Here's an initial batch:

  http://gitorious.org/antipackages
  git clone git://gitorious.org/antipackages/antipackages.git   

So far there are: no-java, no-mono, no-python, and
no-wesnoth.  I'm sure there are other categories of
stuff that people don't want to have dragged onto
their systems by mistake.

I'm starting to suspect that straightforward
"popularity contest" package checks might overstate
the popularity of large software runtimes -- if you
try one little doo-dad that depends on a monster
software package, you get listed as a user of same,
so what the heck, every developer might as well depend
on it because so many users have it.

Antipackages could help give a voice to the
constituency that just wants less software on the
system. 

Yes, I know, they should be a proper apt-gettable
package repository.

-- 
Don Marti                                 +1 510-332-1587 mobile
http://zgp.org/~dmarti/
dmarti at zgp.org
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----- End forwarded message -----