Re: ELF conversion (was Re: 1.0 issues: FSSTND compliance & preparation for a.out abolishment)

[Bill Mitchell <mitchell@mdd.comm.mot.com>]

Ian Jackson <ian@chiark.chu.cam.ac.uk> said:

> `Depends' lines won't stop you replacing an earlier version of a
> package whose dependencies were satisfied with a newer one shose
> dependencies aren't.
> 
> This is necessary so that you can install or upgrade your system in
> any order.  However, what we need to do here is to enforce an order.

Could this be enforced by having the package conflict with versions of
itself earlier than some specified version?  If dpkg doesn't support
this now, it seems as if supporting it would address this.

The downside for users is that they might find themselves in this
situation, remove the conflicting older package so they could
install the newer one, then find that they couldn't install the
newer one until they satisfied its dependencies, leaving them
with a desired package uninstalled until they straigntened this
out.  This might be a serious problem for users with bad (or no)
connectivity.

However, more directly to the point of moving elfward, I like Ian's
suggestion about a elf-available(8) test during preinst of elf-dependent
(elfish?) packages.  It seems clean, simple, and effective to me.