[csw-maintainers] Packages that require either package A or package B

[Philip Brown]

On Wed, May 20, 2009 at 07:46:30PM -0500, Mike Watters wrote:
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> There are some packages that require either pkgA or pkgB to be functional.
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> mediawiki for example.  it requires Either MySQL OR Postgres.
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> How can we handle this in a package that allows a seamless install.
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> I figure a checkinstall script to determine if one or the other exists and bail
> gracefully "like a normal requirement not met" if missing both.

and what if you encounter both installed?

In this sort of situation, i think you have a basic choice of either

a) just pick one that you the maintainer think is best

b) do not auto-install, but provide utility scripts to auto-setup for
   either of them, and a README.CSW file that indicates,
   "run the script you prefer, to finish setup".

  (and of course, some sort of auto-detection for, 
  "this is an UPGRADE, so go with whatever was previously chosen")