Comment 2 for bug 1518814

A quick brain dump of the work I've been doing:

Method 1: dpkg-deb
------------------
When an install fails, it leaves the deb in-tact. I used dpkg-deb to extract information from the deb and put it in a temporary directory. I then found the contents of the "templates" file and parsed it for all the given questions. My plan was to then get the user to give me valid responses to each of the questions, use debconf-set-selections to pre-seed the debconf-db, and reinstall the application. However, I've been pulled away from this method for many reasons, not least of which is that the current version of steam in multiverse clears out any pre-seeded debconf values thus making this method completely impotent.

Method 2: Show Apt Details
--------------------------
As an install/remove is in progress, ping the process every so often (~250ms currently) for new data to read and display it to the user live in PackageInfoView. The user can then take notice that an install is taking forever, check the current info, and send any required data directly to the process. My primary concern with this method is persistence of the install, since it seems that closing/opening libertine during this kind of install will result in an infinite, unhaltable process. I guess there needs to be some way to pick back up on the old process if necessary? Regardless, this feature is further in the future than I am able to see at present.