a 1.4 MB package recommended 230 MB of packages :|

[Clay Weber]

Ric Moore wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> i understand recommends are kinda neat to have, i used to install most
>>> of them before the default apt policy was changed to install recommends
>>> by default, but this.... is just extreme. i can not imagine what a
>>> regular user with no expertise would do if he was required to install
>>> asciidoc, i was *shocked* to see 230 MB for such a simple program. took
>>> me till next day to remember checking if recommends are playing a game
>>> on me, and lo and behold, asciidoc just requires 1.4 MB.. lol
>>> sorry for the somewhat *rant*ish message, but recommends should be
>>> somehow explained, and giving the user a choice.
>>>
>>
>>
>> That was using apt -- what about aptitude - does it also install recommends without giving the
>> user a say?
>
> I don't>think<  that synaptic does that... I could be wrong as heck
> though. Ric
>
It should, as it is still using apt underneath. There is a way to 
configure apt to *not* install recommends by default, basically undoing 
what Ubuntu re-configured from Debian defaults, but I cannot remember 
what to change right now.

clay