Bug#886643: ed help request

[Lev Lamberov <dogsleg@debian.org>]

Hi Niels,

Пн 08 янв 2018 @ 19:16 Niels Thykier <niels@thykier.net>:
> Question from a random drive-by review; can you tell me why you are
> dropping the "Multi-Arch: foreign" header?
>
> (Just curious as the comment/changelog does not document the rationale
> and I could not spot an obvious reason for it)

it's a good question. Thanks!

First, this header is not documented in the Debian Policy (or I
overlooked it?). Then, why should it be in d/control at all? And, well,
it is the main argument, I'd say.

Second, currently ed package has

Architecture: any

in d/control, which is obvious, I guess. As I understand (well, maybe
I'm wrong), it should be

Architecture: all

in the first place.

Third, ed is not a library.

Fourth, the package contain one binary, one script (to run the binary in
a restricted mode), and a bit of documentation. So, if you want to use
Multi-Arch: foreign to save some space, well, maybe 25KB. Then, what is
the point of having Multi-Arch on a system, where you need to fight for
25KB?

Finally, I understand that Multi-Arch: foreign makes a package not
co-installable, so preference should be given to the package with native
architecture. I see this point, so if you or Martin or anyone else want
to have it, then I'm happy to add it back. I'm not insisting, but could
you then document it in the Debian Policy, please? Or at least mention
it there and point to some good documentation.

Cheers!
Lev