Removing single program from multi program packages

[Mike Jones]

Chris,

    Thanks for your reply. I understand the realistic restrictions that a
developer faces when packaging applications. It really doesn't bother me
that I'm incapable of removing one out of all of them while leaving the rest
alone. I always simply remove all of them anyway. I was pointing out a more
fundamental problem (from my perspective), where because of these realistic
restrictions imposed by our technological limitations, I end up with a
situation where my computer tells me that if I remove one program, I need to
remove this huge (Comparatively) list of programs.

    If Ubuntu said "Ok Boss" and *pretended* to remove one specific program
from a package for me, through the single "add or remove programs to your
system" interface of add/remove, that would be... better, but not really the
best solution due to the inherent dishonesty.

    Is there just no way for a package maintaner to not have extra work
piled on their already hefty load while at the same time we allow a user of
Ubuntu to remove most traces of a program in a package with multiple
programs without having to also remove the rest of them? Is it worth doing
even if its possible? I think I'm in a somewhat unique position of having
extreme distaste whenever my system tells me I can't do something in a
counter intuitive way. It telling me it can't make my chair float on an
anti-gravity sled is fine... it telling me that if I don't want one program
of a package, I'm not allowed to have any of them in the package... thats
not so great.

-Mike

On Mon, Mar 23, 2009 at 8:35 AM, Chris Coulson <chrisccoulson at googlemail.com
> wrote:

> 2009/3/23 Mike Jones <eternalorb at gmail.com>
>
>> Right. My intention was to say "Why in the world do I have this
>> restriction on what I can and cannot have on my system?"
>>
>> Overall it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, but in
>> this specific case, it bothers me that I'm incapable of completely removing
>> freecell while leaving the other gnome-desktop default games as they are.
>>
>> -Mike
>
>
> Mike,
>
> The package manager only allows you to manage individulal packages. The
> Freecell source code is shipped in the same tarball as the other default
> Gnome games, and they are all subsequently packaged in to one binary deb
> package. This is why you can't remove individual games from your system.
> Whilst it may be technically possible to split the games in to multiple
> binary deb packages (allowing you to remove individual games), this would
> significantly increase the effort required for a developer to maintain this
> package, all for minimum to zero gain.
>
> Regards
> Chris
>
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