Re: Bug#681834: network-manager, gnome, Recommends vs Depends

[Colin Watson <cjwatson@debian.org>]

On Thu, Aug 09, 2012 at 12:02:38AM +0200, Tollef Fog Heen wrote:
> Am I understanding you correctly in that your answer is «A Recommends
> can never be upgraded to a Depends for a metapackage»?

I'd like to respond, somewhat belatedly, to this characterisation of the
proposed resolution, since I don't think my position on it has been
expressed clearly elsewhere.


I do not subscribe to the position that a Recommends may never be
upgraded to a Depends for a metapackage, and I think such a position
would be unreasonable.  There are many cases where requiring the
installation of additional software is a clear improvement for pretty
much everyone with that metapackage installed, or at least where the
costs of undoing a new upstream dependency outweigh the costs of having
the additional package installed (which in many cases are negligible,
for example the installation of an additional application).

However, when an added dependency turns out to be controversial,
maintainers are expected to listen to those users who have a problem
with it, try to understand why that is, and consider whether the change
should be reverted.  If the responsible maintainers then decide to keep
the change anyway, they should be prepared to justify it to their
colleagues, and (in the case where a dispute is escalated within
Debian's governance structure) persuade the TC that their position is
better.

In other words, I don't see this as any different from the common case
of collaborative software development.  In general, maintainers have the
freedom to make changes that they consider sensible, within the general
framework of things like Debian Policy.  If those changes are disputed,
they should provide clear reasoning, or consider reverting them if they
find upon reflection that the change was not as beneficial as they
thought.  If there is a dispute that can't be resolved in the normal
way, then they should be prepared to justify themselves as part of the
project's dispute resolution processes.  That is certainly what I was
led to expect when I joined the project.

We should not prejudge future disputes by assuming that they will all be
resolved in the same way.  I don't think there is any reason to make
such an assumption.

-- 
Colin Watson                                       [cjwatson@debian.org]