Re: package splits
On Sat, 19 Dec 1998, James R. Van Zandt wrote:
> I don't think a "compatibility" package (an empty package under the
> original name that "depends" on all the new packages) will work here,
> since the hamm package name is still valid in slink. It just does not
> contain as much. We could use "recommends" to bring in the other
> packages, but that pretty much defeats the purpose of splitting the
> package to begin with.
You are right. When the old package does still exist, it should recommend
all the others so that the user is not surprised of losing functionality.
[ "I always pressed Enter but now I do not have %&$/" working!" ]
We could use Recommends for slink and later (potato) weaken this
dependency.
[ We could consider the previous (not splitted) state (hamm) as if they
had a "Depends", this way the split is done smoothly and nobody is
surprised ].
> How about a script that examines /var/lib/dpkg/status for packages
> that have split, and adds "install" entries for the new packages? I
> suppose it could be run either before or after "apt-get dist-upgrade".
I don't like that very much. It should work out-of-the-box, with any
installation method. We should not force the user to user apt on the
command line or to execute a given script.
Please, report "severity: important" bugs against any package that does
not split properly (by having appropriate recommends fields, at least).
We have still one month to achieve the important goal of "smooth upgrades".
Thanks.
--
"bef958b3a99d92d862be2ffd2963f1b0" (a truly random sig)
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