===== TITLE

Dependency of meta-gnome on network-manager

===== WEB SUMMARY

The committee overrules the dependency of meta-gnome on
network-manager while concerns raised in <a
href="http://bugs.debian.org/681834#273">§4 of the decision in
#681834</a> remain unaddressed.

===== EMAIL INTRO

The technical committee was asked in #688772 to revisit the dependency
of gnome metapackages on network-manager. The decision is below:

===== EMAIL EPILOGUE

The committee would like to thank Michael Biebl for discussing the
concerns of the technical committee and working to address those
concerns through technical changes to NM.

===== DECISION

1. The TC notes the decision of the meta-gnome maintainers to
   implement the TC decision in #681834 by:
    (a) softening the dependency in the gnome-core metapackage
        from Depends to Recommends, as required
    (b) adding a new dependency in the gnome metapackage,
        as a Depends.  (In squeeze, this is where the dependency
        was, but it was a Recommends.)

2. Our intent, as stated in the rationale section of our previous
   decision (#681834, paras 3 and 5), is that squeeze users who have
   gnome installed but not network-manager do not find that
   network-manager becomes installed when they upgrade to wheezy.

3. A Recommends from gnome to network-manager-gnome would serve no
   purpose in wheezy as gnome Depends on gnome-core which already
   Recommends network-manager-gnome.

Therefore

4. We overrule the decision of the meta-gnome maintainers to add a
   dependency from gnome to network-manager-gnome; this dependency
   should be removed. If in the opinion of the NM maintainer (and
   before the release of wheezy the Chair of the Technical Committee
   or an individual delegated by the Chair in consultation with the
   Release Team) the concerns raised in §4 of the CTTE decision
   #681834 have been addressed through technical means (e.g. by
   preventing the starting of NM as discussed in #688772), the
   meta-gnome maintainers may freely adjust the dependencies as
   usual.
   
   Specifically, valid bugs where existing valid network
   configurations are broken by the automatic, required installation
   on system upgrade of packages not previously installed which
   perform network configuration on should have severity serious.

5. We request that the Release Team unblock update(s) to meta-gnome so
   that our decisions may be implemented in wheezy.

6. We request that a release note is created explaining that gnome
   users who do not currently have NM installed consider installing
   it.