packaging etexts (was Re: Censoring...)

[eichin@thok.org (Mark W. Eichin)]

> But I don't see the need to *package* large ascii files. What would be

I do see one value, as evidenced by the doc-rfc package: "apt-get
update" means I don't have to keep track of it, I *always* have the
latest version close at hand.  In otherwords, the packaging is an
encoding of some human effort.

Extending this to the etheme example - having a meta-packaging tool
which encodes the "human" knowledge of the difference between an
upstream package and an ideal debian package [in the best case, like
with CPAN, this is merely the *difference* between their ideal and
ours] is potentially better than just having someone pump out packages
themselves - you still get the tracking and upgrading, but you also
get extension into "proper handling of correct but unknown" instances
of the meta-package...