[Bug 1266163] [NEW] Apt Install-Recommends set to false

[David Giard]

Public bug reported:

Ok, first of, i'm in Linux Mint, but as far as i can see, its using the
same ubuntu apt package. So the same problem should still be there with
Ubuntu, please correct me if i'm wrong.

Before going further, maybe someone could confirm the content of
/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/00recommends, and look for any other ??recommends
files. I would like to know if there is a difference when installing
from Ubuntu Server and Ubuntu Desktop. i might end up installing both to
check but i would like to avoid it if possible.

I understand that there might be a reason why this being set to false
"might" be a good thing in Ubuntu Server for example. But its definitly
bad for a Desktop system.

Here is an example, installing pipelight from their ppa. With Install-
Recommends to false you get a bug when using dual screen because with
the missing xinerama lib, wine gets the wrong screen size and you get
only half of the image when in fullscreen.

So, why not just put the xinerama lib as a dependency instead of a
recommend on the pipelight package? Because it would be wrong.

If we look at http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-faq/ch-
pkg_basics.en.html#s-depends for a clue of what recommends are,
recommends are the package that are NOT absolutely needed for the
package to be installed and run, but that most users would want to have.
So in the light of that, i strongly think that having Recommends set to
False by default is bad.

Someone installing a server would more likely be capable of setting this
to false himself than a simple desktop user would be to find out why
somepackage is not working as intended because of a missing recommended
package.

** Affects: apt (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1266163

Title:
  Apt Install-Recommends set to false

Status in “apt” package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  Ok, first of, i'm in Linux Mint, but as far as i can see, its using
  the same ubuntu apt package. So the same problem should still be there
  with Ubuntu, please correct me if i'm wrong.

  Before going further, maybe someone could confirm the content of
  /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/00recommends, and look for any other ??recommends
  files. I would like to know if there is a difference when installing
  from Ubuntu Server and Ubuntu Desktop. i might end up installing both
  to check but i would like to avoid it if possible.

  I understand that there might be a reason why this being set to false
  "might" be a good thing in Ubuntu Server for example. But its
  definitly bad for a Desktop system.

  Here is an example, installing pipelight from their ppa. With Install-
  Recommends to false you get a bug when using dual screen because with
  the missing xinerama lib, wine gets the wrong screen size and you get
  only half of the image when in fullscreen.

  So, why not just put the xinerama lib as a dependency instead of a
  recommend on the pipelight package? Because it would be wrong.

  If we look at http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-faq/ch-
  pkg_basics.en.html#s-depends for a clue of what recommends are,
  recommends are the package that are NOT absolutely needed for the
  package to be installed and run, but that most users would want to
  have. So in the light of that, i strongly think that having Recommends
  set to False by default is bad.

  Someone installing a server would more likely be capable of setting
  this to false himself than a simple desktop user would be to find out
  why somepackage is not working as intended because of a missing
  recommended package.

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