IMPORTANT: What can we do about the base package?

[kai@khms.westfalen.de (Kai Henningsen)]

I think I've asked this before on debian-devel, but got essentially no  
answer.

The next release will obsolete the base package. Some stuff will go into  
base-files, some stuff will go into base-passwd, and some stuff will go  
into no package at all.

This especially includes *all* the devices. (I think there are also some  
directories still in base's file list. And if we get a base-passwd that  
doesn't contain passwd, but generates it on the fly, then purging base  
might even remove passwd!)

I see two problems here.

1. We need to get people to actually install the replacement packages.

2. We need to find a way to purge the base package without hosing the  
system.

I suspect that this will need some trickery with the dpkg databases. I'm  
not a dpkg expert, so I'm not proposing solutions, only pointing out  
problems.

MfG Kai