installers for restricted content

[Matt Zimmerman]

On Wed, Nov 03, 2004 at 07:13:00AM -0800, Joe Crawford wrote:

> > what about the idea of dummy packages for Java, Eclypdeand other
> > software that isn't included into ubuntu for licence or other reasons.
> > The packages could include the nessesarym dependenties and a Script that
> > download the Software from the Internet and bild a deb from it, install
> > this deb.

What you've described is what we call an installer package, rather than a
dummy package (which is usually empty and only satisfies dependencies).

> The same should be done with the nvdia driver. Someone with zero command
> line knowledge or previous linux experience should be able to install both
> of these without trouble.

Installation of the nvidia driver has already been made trivial, though a
single command is still necessary to enable it.  If someone would like to
wrap this in a point-and-click GUI, that might be useful, but I can't say
that I like the idea of cluttering the menu with it.  What is needed is a
proper graphical configurator for X.

Our Xperts are hard at work on X.org, but there's certainly room for someone
else to build such a thing if they have the necessary interest and skills.

-- 
 - mdz