Alternatives in package_lists?

[Steffen Grunewald]

On Thu, 2018-04-26 at 21:20:44 +0200, Thomas Lange wrote:
> >>>>> On Thu, 26 Apr 2018 17:34:23 +0200, Steffen Grunewald <steffen.grunewald at aei.mpg.de> said:
> 
>     > Is it possible to specify "a | b" in a package_config file, so that "a"
>     > gets installed if available, and "b" otherwise?
> FAI only creates a long list of package names and then calls apt-get,
> aptitude or apt. If one of those tools provides a function like install
> a if available or b otherwise, then FAI cloud use it. FAI itself does
> not have this function yet. Patches are welcome ;-)

apt-get install "a | b" doesn't work.

> I wonder if any of the config management tools provides such a function?

Not directly, I'm afraid - but what seems to be feasible is to create a 
metapackage that has "a | b" as its only install dependency, and add that
to the package list.
Of course, the primary goal is to fix the underlying problem - which may
take longer than the time I have to come up with a working setup though.

Thanks,
 S