[fab] slashdot question: dependencies

[Ville Skyttä]

On Thu, 2006-08-10 at 20:39 +0530, Rahul wrote:

> In this specific example, we can probably split things up to have a 
> nautilus-evince sub package but since Evince is linked against the 
> nautilus extension interface this is not a totally stupid dependency. It 
> is also of important that Evince is a universal document viewer and not 
> just a postscript previewer and naturally requires more dependencies.

If I understand correctly, evince is not linked to nautilus per se,
there's just one extension module to nautilus in a separate file which
adds an additional property tab in nautilus' file properties view for
supported file types.

Just doing the split may cause difficulties for folks to find the
property package; locating and installing a separate package for just a
property page is not something users should be expected to do
"manually", instead, it should Just Be There if the dependencies are
satisfied.

Part of this could be solved through package grouping in the installer,
and post-install scenarios possibly utilizing something like (upstream?)
rpm's Enhances: feature when it makes it into FC and depsolvers have
support for it.  Suggests: is another feature which could be helpful in
different but similar situations.  If implemented well in depsolvers,
those can help to strike a balance between doing fine grained package
splits and users still finding the features they want.