Dependency loops considered harmful?

[Toshio Kuratomi]

Callum Lerwick wrote:
> On Wed, 2008-09-03 at 14:12 -0400, Stephen Gallagher wrote:
>> Applications that consist of multiple packages, such as the game
>> example, should be designated as a group rather than a looped
>> dependency.
> 
> Actually a proper fix is to implement the per-package "explicitly
> installed/pulled in as a dep" flag that has been discussed several times
> in the past, and is already implemented (thus proven) in the "aptitude"
> apt front end.
> 
> We must address this user interface problem if Fedora is to be a shining
> beacon of open source light in the looming dark future of closed
> DRM-laden content delivery services such as Steam, Xbox Live and
> PlayStation Network.
> 
That works for a Mom and Pop desktop but doesn't work as a developer's
workstation.  When developing software you might need a library that
does Foo.  Look on the system, hey, I can use libFoo!  A few weeks
later, when you remove Gnome-Foo from your system because your shiny new
 application does the job, your app suddenly can't find libFoo....
(Worse is if your working on an app sporadically and have to figure out
why it's broken not knowing when it became that way.)

So if we track this some way, there needs to be a way to disable it.

-Toshio

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