laptop-mode-tools (1.64-1ubuntu1) does not start in Vivid

[Mélodie]

In an Ubuntu Trusty minimalistic, (custom), started from the menus, it does not start.

It appears there are two things which prevent it from being started. It seems the /usr/sbin/lmt-config-gui needs to be started with administration privilege, but the command line in the desktop file doesn't mention.

Then, when started with "gksu -S lmt-config-gui", it does not start and errors about Qt4 module missing. It appears that once python-qt4 is installed, it can be started.

So, it needs python-qt4, however it is not installed as a dependency, so it will work only if by chance some other program brought it in.
http://packages.ubuntu.com/trusty/laptop-mode-tools

is in the recommends. Could it be tagged dependency and not recommend?

Could you also check about the desktop file and fix it if possible? (here gksu -S worked, pkexec didn't)

Best regards,
Mélodie

[Mélodie (meets)]

Hello,

I am adding here some thoughts and additional ideas for this bug report, after a talk on IRC. This is what we discussed and the clues and ideas this friend gave me:
laptop-mode-tools is a package which contains both CLI and GUI tools, and also comes with parts which run as daemons. (lm-polling-daemon ?)

The bug in the desktop file is something which I think can't be denied. The program needs to be run with administration privilege if we want it to start.

The bug about the dependency on python-qt4 is a bit trickier, because it is a recommend, not a dependency so if we turn the recommends off and allow only the packages which are full dependency to be installed, python-qt4 may not be installed (depending if we have or not have other packages pulling it in).

What it is that I am looking for is the most comfort for the end user while having the smallest and lightest possible. Of course this is often difficult to achieve : turning recommends to "on" very often triggers the install of many more packages which we don't need for a given program to work.

In the present case, having a GUI tool to make it comfortable for the end users of laptops is desirable. Not having more dependency than needed if the user does not need the GUI is also desirable. For this purpose and for the sake of lightness, would it be possible to consider having laptop-mode-tools divided in two packages? This would be:

laptop-mode-tools without python-qt4 neither as depends nor as recommands
laptop-mode-tools-gui with python-qt4 as a dependency.

If not possible, would it be possible to have laptop-mode-tools come with an explicit warning when python-qt4 isn't installed? Something such as:
when lmt-config-gui is started, detect if si python-qt4 is or isn't installed; if not installed, display a window with a warning such as "python-qt4 missing, please install the package"?

Best regards,
Mélodie

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.