On Mon, Jul 07, 2008 at 09:08:05PM -0400, Jeff Johnson wrote:
> >From another side, it is not obvious how recursive --needswhat should
> >traverse virtual packages where more than one alternative is  
> >available.
> >
> 
> Except for multilib (which I personally don't use), what categories  
> for multiple provides exist?

E.g. executable(foo), or /usr/bin/foo (which can be under
update-alternatives(8) control), or MTA.

> All that is needed is criteria for preferring a Provides:. Even for  
> multilib, there is now %_prefer_color which
> can be added to display the "preferred" answer if necessary. Should I  
> implement?
> 
> Note also that the examples I've given for --needswhat/--whatneeds  
> are slyly/implicitly dependent
> on whatever packages are already installed, which is likely to be  
> whatever was "preferred".
> 
> A general answer for "preferred" is more complex however ...