Installing xfe on base Debian

[Giles Orr]

On Sunday I was helping a friend install a new, completely
stripped-down Debian testing system.  After we added X and fluxbox, he
wanted a file manager and chose what we both thought was a relatively
light-weight one, xfe.  Here's how it went:

root at thinkpad:~# aptitude install xfe
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  audacious{a} audacious-plugins{a} dbus-x11{a} desktop-file-utils{a}
  esound-clients{a} esound-common{a} exiftran{a} exiv2{a} gconf2{a}
  gconf2-common{a} geeqie{a} geeqie-common{a} gqview{a}
  gtk2-engines-pixbuf{a} imagemagick{a} libasyncns0{a} libaudclient2{a}
  libaudcore1{a} libaudid3tag2{a} libaudiofile0{a} libavcodec52{a}
  libavformat52{a} libavutil49{a} libbinio1ldbl{a} libcanberra-gtk-module{a}
  libcanberra-gtk0{a} libcanberra0{a} libcddb2{a} libcdio-cdda0{a}
  libcdio10{a} libcdt4{a} libcue1{a} libdbus-glib-1-2{a}
  libdirac-encoder0{a} libdirectfb-1.2-9{a} libdjvulibre-text{a}
  libdjvulibre21{a} libesd0{a} libexif12{a} libexiv2-9{a} libfaad2{a}
  libflac8{a} libfluidsynth1{a} libfox-1.6-0{a} libgconf2-4{a}
  libgd2-noxpm{a} libglu1-mesa{a} libgraph4{a} libgsm1{a}
  libgtkimageview0{a} libgvc5{a} libidl0{a} libilmbase6{a}
  libjack-jackd2-0{a} liblash2{a} liblircclient0{a} liblqr-1-0{a}
  libltdl7{a} libmad0{a} libmagickcore3{a} libmagickcore3-extra{a}
  libmagickwand3{a} libmcs1{a} libmms0{a} libmowgli1{a} libmtp8{a}
  libneon27-gnutls{a} libnetpbm10{a} libnotify1{a} libogg0{a} libopenexr6{a}
  liborbit2{a} liborc-0.4-0{a} libpathplan4{a} libpulse0{a}
  libresid-builder0c2a{a} librsvg2-common{a} libsamplerate0{a}
  libschroedinger-1.0-0{a} libsdl1.2debian{a} libsdl1.2debian-alsa{a}
  libshout3{a} libsidplay2{a} libsndfile1{a} libspeex1{a} libsvga1{a}
  libtdb1{a} libtheora0{a} libts-0.0-0{a} libvorbis0a{a} libvorbisenc2{a}
  libvorbisfile3{a} libwavpack1{a} libwmf0.2-7{a} libwnck-common{a}
  libwnck22{a} libxdot4{a} libxres1{a} netpbm{a} notification-daemon{a}
  tsconf{a} ufraw{a} ufraw-batch{a} unzip{a} xfe xfe-i18n{a} xfe-themes{a}
  zenity{a}
0 packages upgraded, 108 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 36.6MB of archives. After unpacking 103MB will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n/?] n

Excuse me?  Audacious??  A year ago Debian users were smart enough to
install audacious and geeqie when we needed them: now we're too
stupid?  And I'm not even going to discuss the other things it claims
to depend on.

On the xfe sourceforge download page there's a i386 deb package that
had only two requirements: "libglu1-mesa 7.7.1-4 [213kB]" and
"libfox-1.6-0 1.6.37-1 [1,212kB]".

That's truly spectacular dependency bloat.  What exactly has happened
to Debian?  It used to be that Ubuntu was based on Debian, and those
who wanted more control chose Debian.  Now it seems that Debian is
trying to be Ubuntu?  "Don't think, we'll do it for you."

While this may strike some as flame-bait, it's actually a desperate
plea for explanation-and-understanding from a long-time Debian user
who thinks his distro is going insane.

-- 
Giles
http://www.gilesorr.com/
gilesorr-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org
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