Re: bug in apt-get?
>>>>> "Michael" == Michael Meskes <meskes@usa.net> writes:
Michael> On Wed, Oct 07, 1998 at 12:32:32PM -0700, Ben Gertzfield
Michael> wrote:
Ben> I'm pretty sure policy states that a package cannot depend
Ben> wholly on a virtual package; it has to depend on a real,
Ben> preferred package, *or* the virtual package, like so:;
Ben>
Ben> Depends: jds1.1 | jdk1.1-runtime
(that should be jdk1.1, not jds of course.)
Michael> So should I submit bug reports against these packages?
Yes. Here's the relevant part of policy you should cite:
8.6 Defaults for satisfying dependencies - ordering
Ordering is significant in dependency fields.
Usually dselect will suggest to the user that they select the package
with the most `fundamental' class (eg, it will prefer Base packages to
Optional ones), or the one that they `most wanted' to select in some
sense.
In the absence of other information dselect will offer a default
selection of the first named package in a list of alternatives.
However, there is no way to specify the `order' of several packages
which all provide the same thing, when that thing is listed as a
dependency.
Therefore a dependency on a virtual package should contain a concrete
package name as the first alternative, so that this is the default.
For example, consider the set of packages:
Package: glibcdoc
Recommends: info-browser
Package: info
Provides: info-browser
Package: emacs
Provides: info-browser
If emacs and info both have the same priority then dselect's choice is
essentially random. Better would be
Package: glibcdoc
Recommends: info | info-browser
so that dselect defaults to selecting the lightweight standalone info
browser.
Ben
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