Wonky package dependencies?

[Jhair Tocancipa Triana]

Derek Broughton writes:

> Jhair Tocancipa Triana wrote:
>> Brian Puccio writes:
>> 
>>> On Mon, 2006-04-17 at 07:19 +0800, Michael T. Richter wrote:
>>>> In Breezy I decided to install MySQL on my wife's computer.  I chose
>>>> the server version.  Imagine my surprise when it insisted on dragging
>>>> postfix along for the ride?
>>>> 
>>>> What gives?  Why does MySQL's server component rely on postfix?
>> 
>>> MySQL does not rely on postfix. It recommends mailx, which in turn
>>> relies on postfix or any other MTA for that matter. Take a look for
>>> yourself:
>> 
>> BTW, the dependency issue on a MTA seems to be fixed already in Dapper,

> Not really.  As Brian said - it's a "recommends".  But Aptitude installs
> all "recommends" by default.  I thought you could override it on a
> case-by-case basis, but when I tried, it tried to remove every _other_
> recommended package!  

If aptitude installs recommends by default this is
unfortunate. Moreover I think if aptitude doesn't allow to override
this behaviour for particular packages then it is an aptitude bug. I
don't use aptitude myself, so cannot opine further.

> The general consensus here when postfix stopped being part of ubuntu-desktop
> was that an MTA _is_ required for server installs and not for a desktop
> install.  When you start installing database servers, you've stopped being
> a simple desktop installation.

The rationale behind the dependency type change in mysql-server was to
support unusual installations. In particular if someone wanted to
install a MTA which doesn't rely on mailx (e.g. qmail) mysql was also
uninstalled in the process[1] due its mailx dependency.

______________ 
[1] http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=316297

-- 
--Jhair