Double dependency problem with ${shlibs:Depends}, ${misc:Depends}, etc.

[Osamu Aoki <osamu@debian.org>]

Hi,

Since lintian complains about missing ${misc:Depends}, people are adding
it to Depends: in debian/control.  This is good thing but there could be
complication.  One example is http://bugs.debian.org/548282  This is
causing double dependencies and creating uninstallable set of packages
in some cases.  In other, just ugly double dependencies. 

For python-gdata (2.0.7-1) which seems broken today also had:

  --\ Depends (4)
    --- python
    --- python (>= 2.5) | python-celementtree | python-elementtree
    --- python-support (>= 0.90.0)
    --- python2.4 (UNAVAILABLE)

This came from
Depends: ${shlibs:Depends}, ${misc:Depends}, ${python:Depends},
 python (>= 2.5) | python-celementtree | python-elementtree

I do not know why python2.4 was introduced and why we need it.  I also
think depending both on python and python (>= 2.5) looks ugly.  

This seems to be typical problem happening since lintian recommendation
for adding ${misc:Depends}.

Is there any best practice guides on this subject?

Can someone think of lintian check for this double dependency issue?

Osamu