[packagekit] PackageKit & Debian, Was: External dependencies, DeviceKit-power and GNOME Power Manager

[Duncan Mac-Vicar Prett]

Richard Hughes wrote:
> I don't think this is a install time thing, it's a configure time thing.
> I think in this case the best thing to do would be to use Message(),
> something like this:
> ________________________________________________________________
> |
> |  Password Required
> |
> |  A default password is required for the 'mediawiki' package.
> |  This needs to be set in /etc/mediawiki/defaults before
> |  the service is able to be used.
> |_______________________________________________________________
>
> I really don't think this is required at install time, these messages
> can be queued up and shown at the end of the transaction. There's
> certainly no need to block, waiting for input.
>   

Can Debian get the package installed but defer the debconf call to
later? In that case t could be adapted so debconf output is shown as
message, and introduce the concept of "configuring" a package, which
could be implemented in the backend. In the case of rpm backends, it
would be "configured" for all packages, and in debian, packages could
keep the state "need to configure" after installed, and PK can offer an
interface to configure it (just like we do with distupgrade and other
stuff).

Duncan