Bug#1091092: Incorrect dependency on malcontent-gui

[Simon McVittie]

On Sun, 22 Dec 2024 at 15:26:28 +0100, asciiwolf at seznam.cz wrote:
> The gnome-control-center package still depends on malcontent-gui instead of just (lib)malcontent.
> This is not correct. The malcontent-gui package is not required by gnome-control-center anymore
> and malcontent-gui (malcontent-control) is treated as a regular, user-uninstallable app[1] since 0.13.0.
> Uninstalling such app via GUI software centers if it still is a gnome-control-center dependency (instead
> of just recommended or suggested package) could leave the user's system in a broken state.

I feel as though there's something here that you're not telling me. Why
is this Severity: important? Is there a scenario in which the wrong thing
happens as a result of this dependency? Even if this is an excessively
strong dependency, we would not normally consider that to be "a bug which
has a major effect on the usability of a package, without rendering it
completely unusable to everyone"[1] without some sort of exacerbating
factor.

[1] https://www.debian.org/Bugs/Developer#severities

If I'm reading between the lines correctly, are you saying that the
problem scenario is something like this?

Steps to reproduce: Install GNOME. Attempt to remove malcontent-gui by
using GNOME Software?

Expected result: either uninstallation is prevented, or malcontent-gui
is uninstalled but gnome-control-center remains?

Actual result: GNOME Software attempts to remove gnome-control-center?

If that's the scenario that you're concerned about, I would be tempted
to call that a bug in GNOME Software: ideally it would refuse to remove
<compulsory_for_desktop/> packages even if they are only an indirect
dependency. But perhaps I am misunderstanding your reasoning? Please
fill in the gaps rather than making me guess.

The commit that elevated the Recommends to Depends[2] cited these reasons:

> Depend instead of Recommend malcontent-gui
>
> fixes the Apps tab being blank, see LP: #2072772 comment 5[3]
>
> Also, there's a new law requiring parental controls
> to be pre-installed for computers sold in France

[2] https://salsa.debian.org/gnome-team/gnome-control-center/-/commit/f652debe77a6af5fd9b96c47e7c6bb9e30823af1
[3] https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-control-center/+bug/2072772,
    https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-control-center/+bug/2072772/comments/5

If that reasoning is no longer valid, I'd like to know what has changed.

Thanks,
    smcv