Re: How package a binary library with unversioned soname?

[Ben Finney <bignose+hates-spam@benfinney.id.au>]

Russ Allbery <rra@debian.org> writes:

> Ben Finney <bignose+hates-spam@benfinney.id.au> writes:
> > The Debian policy only applies to packages in Debian. The software
> > you're discussing won't be in Debian (because it's non-free), and
> > is not subject to Debian policy.
> 
> Debian Policy does apply to packages in non-free, as it says in the
> Policy document.

Can you show the location where that's stated? My information comes
from the "Scope" section:

    <URL:http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-scope.html#s1.1>

    This manual describes the policy requirements for the Debian
    GNU/Linux distribution. This includes the structure and contents
    of the Debian archive and several design issues of the operating
    system, as well as technical requirements that each package must
    satisfy to be included in the distribution.

So, since non-free works are not part of the Debian GNU/Linux
distribution, and are not candidates to be included in the
distribution, they're clearly not included in the above scope
statement.

The section continues:

    This manual also describes Debian policy as it relates to creating
    Debian packages. It is not a tutorial on how to build packages,
    nor is it exhaustive where it comes to describing the behavior of
    the packaging system. Instead, this manual attempts to define the
    interface to the package management system that the developers
    have to be conversant with.

The above scope statement clearly only applies to the interface
developers must use in their packaging practices.

I don't see how non-free software, which is explicitly excluded from
Debian by not conforming with the DFSG, is included in the above
policy document scope.

If you have a pointer to somewhere else in the policy document that
shows non-free works *are* required to comply with the policy, I'd
like to see it.

> It's a perfectly reasonable question.

I never meant to imply it wasn't.

-- 
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Ben Finney