Re: Debian (and RedHat) source package format (was Re: Qt and other)

[joost@pc47.mpn.cp.philips.com]

On 22 Nov 1998, Guy Maor wrote:

> I don't think that this is a bug, and that implies that there are two
> kinds of source dependencies.

We need two kinds of dependencies for sources:

build-dependencies:  for tools that you need to have installed to build
the source into executables (or even full packages.)

source-dependencies:  for other source packages that provide pieces of
sourcecode that need to be present for your particular source to build.

It seems like the build-dependencies are actually very much like the
dependencies that we already have for binary packages, maybe we would even
want to call them just "dependencies." The source-deps are a new approach
to the dependencies concept as much as adding any dependencies to source
packages is new to the packaging concept as it has been applied to
binaries so far. 

Equally important as the dependencies are IMHO that we are able to build
source packages from multiple sources and, maybe even more important, from
multiple patch files.  On top of that some scripting or macro mechanism to
optionally transform the source tarballs or apply the patches would be
nice.

Having said this, I must admit not having looked at klee's work yet.

Cheers,


Joost