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

[Ian Jackson <ijackson@chiark.greenend.org.uk>]

Tollef Fog Heen writes ("Re: Bug#681834: network-manager, gnome, Recommends vs Depends"):
> Ian Jackson :
> > It seems to me that our objectives must include:
> [...]
> 
> > 3. Users who deliberately removed network-manager in squeeze (which
> >    they will generally have done by deliberately violating the
> >    Recommends from the gnome metapackage) should not have to do
> >    anything special to avoid it coming back in wheezy.
> 
> A somewhat tangential question here – is this a general requirement?
> Doesn't that prevent maintainers from (worst case) ever upgrading
> Recommends to Depends?  I'm worried about what precedent this would be
> setting.

In a case where the underlying dependency has genuinely become a
Depends because of changes to the actual software, then it is fine to
strengthen the dependency and require users to either accept the
regression compared to their previous situation, or to deinstall the
parent package.

But that's not the case here.

Ian.