Re: What package do you need?

>>>>> "Jerry" == Jerry James <[email protected]> writes:

Jerry> Wouldn't it be nice if XEmacs could tell you that [the name of the
Jerry> missing package]?

I thinks that it's a great idea but I'm not sure that it will remove the
problem.  That's because for this to work the user needs to have an up-to-date
package-index but not have the necessary package dependencies.  Is this the
most common case?

I can think of three situations where this type of error could occur:

1) The sumo is broken.  Extremely unlikely, but are sanity checks done for
   this type of thing?

2) The user uses PUI to get the package but not the dependencies.  In this
   case, instead of making the user type 'r' get mark the dependencies, why
   not mark them automatically when a package is selected (and de-selecting
   the package would de-select all the dependencies not otherwise explicitly
   selected)?

3) The user downloads and installs the raw package file.  In this case we have
   no idea how current the package index is.

Other thoughts:

- Out of date packages are just as important as missing ones ('The file you
  want is in version X of package Y') because files occasionally get moved
  around.

- Don't forget multi-user sites.  Not every user has write access to the
  package installation area.

Malcolm

-- 
	       Malcolm Purvis <[email protected]>

Q: Why did the chicken cross the Mobius strip?
A: To get to the other... uh... err...