Should I add this Repo?

[Leonard Chatagnier]

Hi Mario,
See below:
--- On Mon, 10/27/08, Mario Vukelic <mario.vukelic at dantian.org> wrote:

> From: Mario Vukelic <mario.vukelic at dantian.org>
> Subject: Re: Should I add this Repo?
> To: "Ubuntu user technical support, not for general discussions" <ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com>
> Date: Monday, October 27, 2008, 1:14 AM
> On Sun, 2008-10-26 at 20:08 -0700, Leonard Chatagnier wrote:
> 
> > Brother requires you to use the --force option in
> order to install
> > their printer drivers on Linux/Ubuntu. They have the
> best Linux/Ubuntu
> > support
> 
> Somehow the first and the second part of your sentence
> don't fit
> together. If they had "the best" linux support,
> their drivers would
> simply be in the distro's repos
> 
Well there are some but not my model that I can tell.  Perhaps because my MFC-490CW is a brand new release printer with built-in wifi internet printing and the drivers simply haven't arrived downstream yet. If you really want to know, suggest you ask the Ubuntu Developers instead of me, an ordinary home user.
Cus I don't know unless it's because of it's newness.

> > So the option can't be all that bad when it is
> absolutely required to
> > make my printer work on Hardy 64 bit. 
> 
> Strictly speaking it is meaningless to talk about "the
> --force option",
> that's why I originally wrote
> "--force-things". dpkg has many
> --force-<thing> options, some of them more dangerous
> and some of them
> less so.
> 
In my case it was --forec-architecture that was needed.  See below for more input. Also, I wasn't trying to refute what you said and was replying specifically to Dotan's post about it being so dangerous which in my case, I don't think so and I do trust Brother and it's linux/Ubuntu support.

> I have no idea about 32 vs 64 bit as I never ran a 64 bit
> system, so
> far. But it still sounds like a badly-created package.
> 
Think not. Visit the links I gave on another post. The links give explicit detailed instructions of how to install my specific model and it worked first time. That's better support than I've seened on any distro or printer manufacturer. And that's what I call *Best* support. Email your printer manufacturer and even if they do support Linux not to mention Ubuntu specifically bet you wont get a reply within 24 hours with your questions answered and including the specific, detailed fix for you issue. I owned 2 Epson MFP before the Brother and couldn't get any help when the printer just quit printing from OO.o 2.4 nor got any help googling. I think things will be different with Brother based on my two initial contacts. I still don't know what is wrong with the last Epson as it still does everything but print from a program like OO.o.
I think that you may be under the impression that since I used the Brother site to install my printer that the Ubuntu drivers for it wont get downstream into the distro. That I suspect is incorrect based on what "aptitude search/show brother" listed on my system. What's surprising is that none of the list is automatically installed(all have "p" for the list) and I have rebooted many times before and after installing Brother.

> Just for reverence, here are the --force-<thing>
> options:
> 
> mario at chronic: ~ $ dpkg --force-help
> dpkg forcing options - control behaviour when problems
> found:
>   warn but continue: 
> --force-<thing>,<thing>,...
>   stop with error:   
> --refuse-<thing>,<thing>,... |
> --no-force-<thing>,...
>  Forcing things:
>   all [!]                Set all force options
>   downgrade [*]          Replace a package with a lower
> version
>   configure-any          Configure any package which may
> help this one
>   hold                   Process incidental packages even
> when on hold
>   bad-path               PATH is missing important
> programs, problems
> likely
>   not-root               Try to (de)install things even
> when not root
>   overwrite              Overwrite a file from one package
> with another
>   overwrite-diverted     Overwrite a diverted file with an
> undiverted
> version
>   bad-verify             Install a package even if it fails
> authenticity
> check
>   depends-version [!]    Turn dependency version problems
> into warnings
>   depends [!]            Turn all dependency problems into
> warnings
>   confnew [!]            Always use the new config files,
> don't prompt
>   confold [!]            Always use the old config files,
> don't prompt
>   confdef [!]            Use the default option for new
> config files if
> one
>                          is available, don't prompt. If
> no default can
> be found,
>                          you will be prompted unless one of
> the confold
> or
>                          confnew options is also given
>   confmiss [!]           Always install missing config
> files
>   breaks [!]             Install even if it would break
> another package
>   conflicts [!]          Allow installation of conflicting
> packages
>   architecture [!]       Process even packages with wrong
> architecture

--force-architectue is the dpkg option Brother used in the printer setup and in spite of the dire warning I suspect I would have had to use it in a pure Ubuntu setup. I may be wrong here just being an ordinary home user so let the experts comment on it. Apparently since the option is part of the official dpkg options there is some need for it when having to run dual architectures and cupswrapper to get the 32 bit drivers to work in 64 bit Ubuntu.

>   overwrite-dir [!]      Overwrite one package's
> directory with
> another's file
>   remove-reinstreq [!]   Remove packages which require
> installation
>   remove-essential [!]   Remove an essential package
> 
> WARNING - use of options marked [!] can seriously damage
> your
> installation.
> Forcing options marked [*] are enabled by default.
> 
> 

Leonard Chatagnier
lenc5570 at sbcglobal.net