Wonky package dependencies?

[Antony Gelberg]

Derek Broughton wrote:
> 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!  
> 
> 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.  

I wish I'd seen that discussion.  I'm shocked that any *nix system would 
install itself with no MTA.

> When you start installing database servers, you've stopped being
> a simple desktop installation.