Bug#850967: Clarify /usr/bin/foo should not be hardcoded even in upstream parts
>> Policy 6.1 says
>> | Programs called from maintainer scripts should not normally have a
>> | path prepended to them.
>>
>> Ie, programs that are on PATH should be found via the PATH rather than
>> by hardcoding /usr/bin/foo or whatever. In general, I think we
>> normally, at least in software written specifically for Debian, apply
>> this not just to maintainer scripts but to all program execution.
>
> I agree that it's a common practice for software written specifically
> for Debian. I'm not convinced it's a common practice elsewhere, and i'm
> definitely not convinced that we should mandate divergence from upstream
> for this purpose.
Just as a datapoint, in other communities there is actually a trend in
the opposite direction. For example, for the Python ecosystem there is
an increasing drive to establish a "system Python" that ignores Python
modules in /usr/local and $PYTHONPATH, specifically to avoid potential
interference of user installed modules with distribution Python scripts.
I have a lot of sympathie for this idea, and I think it would be good to
keep this in mind when discussing potential clarifications of policy.
Best,
Nikolaus
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