[packagekit] RFC - easy install/remove

[Sebastian Heinlein]

Am Freitag, den 07.11.2008, 11:49 -0800 schrieb Peter Nash:
> well, I'm not talking about update... i'm talking about an easy way to install/remove software...
> 
> the idea was something as easy as Xandro's CNR or Linux Mint's MintInstall

Or Debian's and Ubuntu's gnome-app-install.

> and if PackageKit already have the package catalog (which does more or less the same 1-click install does) then only an easy way to remove applications is missing

You don't only want to remove the first level/direct dependencies, but
also all recursive ones. So this is should clearly be done by the
backend. Even handling all direct dependencies is out of scope for
packagekit itself.

> James, I'm not sure Apt does what i though about...

Right, I doesn't. It only marks packages as explicitly installed or
installed as dependency. This is is only a general flag. We don't have
got any information for which package the corresponding one was
installed as a dependency. So it is an all or nothing option.

AFAIK aptitude has chosen the last approach by removing all orphaned
dependencies on a remove operation. Apt-get does the opposite by not
removing any orphans by default.

Cheers,

Sebastian