[bcwhite@bnr.ca: New Packages-Master]

[Ian Murdock <imurdock@debian.org>]

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Date:  Tue, 7 Nov 1995 11:06:00 -0500 
From: "brian (b.c.) white" <bcwhite@bnr.ca> 
To: imurdock@debian.org 
Subject:  New Packages-Master 

I noticed that the "Packages-Master" file now has a "filename:" field.
I'm curious about what will happen when (if?) you create seperate
directories for different "releases" of Debian.

I haven't seen a stated solution to the "post-release" problem but I
get the impression that there will be a "latest" hierarchy that will
just have symlinks back to the "released" hierarchy unless a newer version
has become available, it which case the newer version will replace the
symlink.

How will the pathname given in "filename: ..." be affected when a
packages appears (via symlinks) under multiple directories?  Because a
package name uniquely identifies a version of a package, the path
information isn't really neccessary.  As far as 'dftp' is concerened,
just the filename (without the path component) is sufficient.


Also, Packages-Master does not seem to have all the packages listed
within it.  Though I have not checked it fully, at least the experimental
packages are not included.  Since this is the "Master", I think all
should be included.  Selection programs such as 'dftp' can hide packages
from the user very easily, if so desired, but it is very hard to include
them if the information is not readily available in the first place.

                                        Brian
                                 ( bcwhite@bnr.ca )

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    In theory, theory and practice are the same.  In practice, they're not.

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