Handling of -source packages for kernel modules

[Emmet Hikory]

On 11/16/07, Cesare Tirabassi <norsetto at ubuntu.com> wrote:
> Then I think we should ask ourselves why they are confused by these packages
> and if it is possible to educate them.
>
> I'm sorry, but I really don't think that we should always go for the lesser
> denominator.
<...>
> PS. If we do go for the lesser denominator than please remove as well terminal
> emulators from the base installation, I have seen many users who have been
> confused by their existance.

    There's an essential difference here.  Packages which generate
"binary" packages containing uninvestigated source also included in
the default Ubuntu kernel source are not merely confusing, but
generally useless.  In the default case, the system will work without
the user installing the package, and for special cases the user would
likely be better served by recompiling their kernel with a different
configuration.

    In the case of terminal emulators, while they can cause user
confusion, there exists a use case that a terminal emulator can solve.
 Further, these packages are only being considered for blacklisting:
if one is useful, there is no reason they cannot be ported to work
with the Ubuntu kernel, but it is a reasonable expectation to assume
that it will require a manual merge for each release due to
significant differences between the kernels as packaged for Debian and
Ubuntu.

---
Emmet HIKORY