Comment 17 for bug 8896

My original problem has NOT been fixed - installing grip by default produces an install that fails with a cryptic error message instead of being able to rip to ogg or mp3, because those recommended packages have not been installed.

If this were a policy issue there would be a config file somewhere that could be set to isntruct synaptic and add-applications to auto install recommends. As previously noted in this bug report, work to add such an option was under way, but what is its current status?