On Mon, Oct 14, 2002 at 04:41:22PM -0700, Sean 'Shaleh' Perry wrote: > On Monday 14 October 2002 16:03, Joel Baker wrote: > > > > 2) Is this a libc6 special case, or would it be just as acceptable to list, > > say, "libc12-dev | libc-dev"? > > > > Policy 7.4 states: > > If you want to specify which of a set of real packages should be the default > to satisfy a particular dependency on a virtual package, you should list the > real package as an alternative before the virtual one. However, as read, this would make little or not sense as to why one cannot (or even should not) use libc-dev instead of libc*-dev unless you need a versioned dependancy - since all libc*-dev should Provide: libc-dev, and there should be exactly one that applies to any given arch, there is no "preference" that would make any sense for all arches. > I seem to recall this being more of a "packages which depend on virtual > packages should do this" but either my memory is blurry or the text changed. It's certainly a good 'should' when it makes sense. I assert that *iff* that is the only reason, however, it does not make sense in this case. But Branden's message certainly seemed to say it's more than a 'should', but rather, a 'must' - since failing to have a real dependacy in front causes failure to install. > If you run lintian --info on your package it should give you: > > W: virtual-package-depends-without-real-package-depends > Ref: policy 7.4 > The package declares a depends on a virtual package without listing a > real package as an alternative first. And that's a "Warning", which would match the 'should' clause in 7.4, which all makes sense - until you throw in Branden's claim that this utterly breaks installation. What I'm asking is why, if Policy 7.4 says 'should' and if there is no rational default for selecting a 'real' version in the presence of more than one (which should never happen in the first place, in this particular instance), installation breaks. -- *************************************************************************** Joel Baker System Administrator - lightbearer.com lucifer@lightbearer.com http://users.lightbearer.com/lucifer/
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