ubuntu-extras metapackage? (Re: New Programs for Hardy?)

[Matt Zimmerman]

On Fri, Dec 07, 2007 at 08:34:22AM -0600, Conrad Knauer wrote:
> On Nov 28, 2007 4:49 AM, Colin Watson <cjwatson at ubuntu.com> wrote:
> 
> > > > I can almost guarantee it will not see the
> > > > Install Disc for some time to come, even though Iced Tea is sure a movement,
> > > > we're working with 700mb here, compression only does so much.
> > >
> > > I'm not too familiar with the details of the squashfs compression
> > > used; how close would it be?  Is there a way to increase compression
> > > at the expense of processing time?  Could some of the Windows FOSS be
> > > pared down to make room for it?
> >
> > We are always looking for more ways to reduce CD size so that we can fit
> > more things on the CD, although squashfs-lzma is not on the table at the
> > moment since, while squashfs is likely to be merged upstream soon,
> > squashfs-lzma apparently isn't. That said, I believe the next version of
> > squashfs uses larger block sizes to achieve better compression.
> >
> > The Windows FOSS has already been pared down many times, and I think is
> > probably now near its minimum.
> >
> > There are various other targets of opportunity, such as duplicate files
> > and unnecessary content in the English language packs, that we'll be
> > looking into as well.
> 
> I was just thinking about this; perhaps we need a new ubuntu-*
> metapackage, along the lines of ubuntu-restricted-extras but for
> software libre that didn't quite make the cut.  Maybe ubuntu-extras?

Given that it's unlikely that most people will want *all* of them, I think
that things like this would be better represented as a category in
Add/Remove where users can browse the most popular non-default software to
see if they want it.

-- 
 - mdz