[arch-general] netctl provides wifi-menu which is unusable

[Simon Thelen]

On 27/02/14 at 13:22, Nowaker wrote:
> Optdepends are used for software like lighttpd or apache where some optional
> modules may need these optdepends. /usr/bin/wifi-menu is a first class
> citizen of this package, not just some optional module.
wifi-menu isn't so much a "first-class-citizen" as it is a graphical interface to the
netctl backend.
> 
> I don't know of any other package that would do the same.
I know of several packages that optionally depend on graphical
interfaces to provide a graphical interface to the program.
Of the top of my head I can think of nmap which optdepends on pygtk for
the zenmap binary. There are more, and I think that is a perfectly valid
use case.
> 
> 
> I do pay attention to the output, but current state of wifi-menu in netctl
> is a nonsense. And what is a nonsense needs to be fixed, right? Three other
> people already agree with me.
I don't consider this nonsense, wifi-menu is not an essential part of
netctl so dialog shouldn't be in the depends. wifi-menu also isn't
important enough to receive its own package. I see zero problem with
wifi-menu remaining a binary in netctl that requires an optdepend in
order to function because wifi-menu does nothing extraordinary but
provide a simple user interface to netctl.

To sum it up: the status-quo is fine as it is. There is no point in
changing something that not only works but also makes perfect sense.

-- 
Simon Thelen

Yes, I've now got this nice little apartment in New York, one of those
L-shaped ones.  Unfortunately, it's a lower case l.
		-- Rita Rudner
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