Proposal for a new package relationship option
[sidenote: this is not an official policy proposal since it's
just a reflection of thoughts for the time being...
if i get positive feedback, i'll submit a formal proposal.
and excuse me if this has been discussed earlier.]
Hello all,
I believe there is a need for a new package relationship option
that is to conflicts as recommends is to depends, and i offer the name
"discourages".
Rationale:
discouragements will find their place in a lot of task packages,
specifically the task-secure package discussed in debian-devel earlier.
also, it can fit nicely where you might want to test another package
that would claim the same resources as an installed one, without
removing the first one (like a new webserver or mailer), or actually
use two together (do people do that?)
i believe there are more places where it could fit (examples anyone?)
Definition:
Package X discourages Package Y when the two packages can exist in
a stable setup, but may require specific configuration to co-exist,
or their conjunction might cause potentially undesireable effects.
Phasing in support for discourages:
i presume this will require some dpkg/dselect/apt coding.
i believe the logical way to phase in support for it is to
treat discourages as conflicts in the beginning, until code to
properly supports it appear. this way, maintainers could
add discourage: lines before proper support is coded in.
any feedback will be very appreciated
--
.sig file pending
Cheers
Cout
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