http://bugzilla.opensuse.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1196547 http://bugzilla.opensuse.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1196547#c12 --- Comment #12 from Alois Wohlschlager <alois1@gmx-topmail.de> --- (In reply to Ludwig Nussel from comment #11)

If you have such a list already, a first approach could also be to try to simply file sr's to eliminate those recommends. That's what I did in the past with some packages and generally didn't get much pushback. Mind trying? :-)

I don't really have a list handy, but I definitely can (and in fact planned to) try to create such a list (part of that will involve tracking down the SELinux -> Jupyter madness, which will most likely result in a SR). However, just eliminating these recommends unconditionally won't work, see below why. I will answer your other two points in the opposite order that you have mentioned them, since I think this is more logical.

I'd prefer to get rid of recommends. As OS vendor we have to decide whether a package is needed or not. A stricter definition of what is a mandatory part of the OS really helps in other areas too (eg transactional-update status).

That decision was already made, and such a definition already exists: it's called Requires. We already have that situation in today's MicroOS. Recommends are, in my book, supposed to be things which are in fact *not* strictly mandatory, but generally useful to have. Some concrete examples TW/MicroOS experience: * enhanced_base -> plymouth: This is a Recommends, so it's not installed on MicroOS today. The system works without a boot splash, but it looks nicer with one. (Same with the language magic this issue is about, but I don't understand how it works exactly. Emoji fonts and color management are also in this category.) * microos_desktop_common -> hplip-hpijs, OpenPrintingPPDs: This is in fact a Requires today. A desktop system can work without printing if so desired, but a significant part of the userbase appreciates their printer working. With Recommends, everyone can have a good experience, while users can choose to slim their systems down further. In a world without Recommends, this option doesn't exist any more: in order not to bloat everyone's system, many "nice to have" things have to be left out, leading to degraded experience after installation (of course you can install these things after the fact, but that's not user-friendly at all).

Yes that is likely possible via boolean dependencies. I wonder whether it's really needed though.

As a concrete example again, the x11 -> x11_enhanced -> web_browser Recommends chain does make sense on traditional systems. On MicroOS not so much, since you just install the browser using Flatpak. -- You are receiving this mail because: You are on the CC list for the bug.