Bug#372731: policy: please say which control fields can line-wrap
Peter Samuelson <peter@p12n.org> writes:
> Package: debian-policy
> Version: 3.7.2.0
> From upgrading-checklist:
> * All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file are
> supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread over
> multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is elided).
> Policy 5.1:
> Some fields' values may span several lines; in this case each
> continuation line must start with a space or a tab.
> [...]
> Except where otherwise stated, only a single line of data is allowed
> and whitespace is not significant in a field body.
> Policy 5.2:
> Many fields are permitted to span multiple lines in `debian/control'
> but not in any other control file.
> Please specify which fields in debian/control are allowed to span
> multiple physical lines. "Some fields' values" and "Many fields" don't
> tell us anything. Or is upgrading-checklist supposed to be normative?
It should say this in the specifications for those individual fields. It
does for Uploaders, but it doesn't in section 7.1 for relationship fields.
That's the set that are allowed to be wrapped; wrapping doesn't really
make as much sense for the other fields.
--
Russ Allbery (rra@debian.org) <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>
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