# Re: Sane config thoughts

Nick Lamb (njl98r@ecs.soton.ac.uk)
Fri, 23 Apr 1999 06:35:04 +0100 (BST)

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On Fri, 23 Apr 1999, Tripp Lilley wrote:

> ... consider building a
> thoughtful RPM -- perhaps one that prompts the user for which backend(s)
> they'd like to install.

(1) AFAIK RPM doesn't support prompts for the user -- what would they
look like in GnoRPM, or during an automated FTP install?

(2) The user doesn't know if they need "mustek2.rpm" "umax.rpm" for their
unbadged SCSI scanner they got free with the computer. SANE can figure
this out, but now you've prevented that from happening.

> Or, perhaps something more like a "SANE Core" RPM, and individual "SANE
> backend" RPMs for the different backends. I'd, of course, include the dll,
> net, and pnm backends in the "Core" automatically.

Now you've got the user picking tons of extra packages at install time,
just to make the minimum install smaller (which as was already pointed out
is irrelevant if you're going to be running a resource-intensive scanner)

I'm sure your intentions are good, but the truth is Hard Disk space is
lots cheaper than technical support. So rather than get 10 million cries
for help "Which RPMs should I install?" we keep it simple. Red Hat and
other distributors have always taken this approach to the other HW
components in a system -- assume the user has everything, and install
drivers just in case they need them.

Nick.

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