Bug#515175: file-roller: Can't open .deb by default (aka should recommend binutils)

[Frank Lin PIAT]

Hi Folks,

I filed the following bug (515175), which raises 2 questions:

In Bug 515175, Frank Lin PIAT wrote:
> Package: file-roller
> Version: 2.22.4-2
> Severity: normal
>
> On a default gnome-desktop system (Lenny), .deb files (application/x-deb)
> are associated with file-roller, but it can't open it.
>
> Please recommend or depend on the package binutils (which provides
> /bin/ar).

1. Should file-roller (and similar programs) use /bin/ar or dpkg-deb to
   extract the contents of archives?
   If it should use /bin/ar, then wouldn't it be sensible to move ar
   to another package than binutils, so we don't need to install on
   all gnome dsktops?
   On the other hand, if (Gnome) file-roller were to use dpkg-deb, it
   would be probably be broken on rpm based distributions.
2. Wouldn't it be more sensible to have .deb files associated to a user
   friendly package information viewer, like gdeb or gdebi?

Franklin

P.S. Obviously, this is a post-lenny discussion.