Re: Bug#2835: screen should write to terminfo

[Raul Miller <rdm@tad.micro.umn.edu>]

Guy Maor:
 > The new base should rm /etc/termcap.  That file should only be in a
 > 1.1 system if it has the termcap compatibility library installed.
 > That lib (which is in case you get a non-debian binary that you
 > want to run) has been sitting in Incoming/HOLD till everyone agrees
 > it's a good idea to move it in.
 > 
 > I'm a little frightened of base removing the termcap, but I'm not sure
 > why.  Does anyone else have an expert opinion on this matter?

Removing /etc/termcap is not a good thing for the base.  Some people
might need it, for some people it might contain significant work.

It's might be reasonable to provide a package that does remove
/etc/termcap, and as a package, it could conflict with termcap (seems
like a mis-use of package name space however).

This is really getting into the area where there's some decisions that
should be made on a per-system basis.  Probably the best thing is to
put this in the FAQ so that people upgrading out of beta can know that
this might be an issue and that they can deal with it this way.

We can't do everything for people, and trimming the system down to
size is one of the things we should only enable -- never institute in
a blanket fashion.

-- 
Raul