Apt Install-Recommends set to false

[David Giard]

I first reported this here https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/apt/+bug/1266163 but as i've been told, this is not an issue with the apt package. The /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/00recommends file does not come from it.

The problem is the Apt Install-Recommends being set to false in the live-cd itself. My guess is that the install copy the /etc or a part of it to the /target system.

I understand that there might be a reason why this is set to false in the livecd. But in a Desktop system this is a problem.

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.

As Dunkult mentionned in the first bug i reported, it is silly to disable recommends, but many people insist on doing it instead of insisting on package maintainers to use recommends properly for the benefit of all.

As i said, i understand that in the live-cd, the reason it is there might have something to do with making sure the cd does not get too big. But i'm sure there are other ways of doing this. It is a cheap hack at best, and its causing problems.

[Paulmicha (paul-michalet)]

This appears to make Docker incompatible with latest Mint 17 "Qiana" (LTS) - cf. https://github.com/dotcloud/docker/issues/1899

[John Paul Herold (dailyherold)]

Directed here from the above github issue. Also in support of including Recommends by default. I have most recently encountered dependency problems with Docker, and had to google the right combination. Ultimately though, I agree, it does go back to package maintainers using recommends in good faith.