On Sat, May 18, 2002 at 11:49:45PM -0500, Adam Heath wrote:
> On Sat, 18 May 2002, Branden Robinson wrote:
> > > Why not just use /libexec, for hurd, and be done with it? Why force the rest
> > > of Debian to require use of it?
> > As I understand it, that's all they're asking for. But Debian Policy
> > says "follow the FHS", and {/usr,}/libexec doesn't. And some non-Hurd
> > Debian developers are sufficiently enamored of the concept of Policy as
> > universally applicable without exception that it feels like anti-Hurd
> > discrimination to some people.
> I don't see that adding /libexec on hurd is a violation of policy.
It most definitely would be. All files that the Hurd port wants to put
in {/usr,}/libexec are required by the FHS to be placed in
subdirectories under /usr/lib. Because Debian Policy says we must
follow the FHS, it's pretty clear that this is not currently acceptable.
That doesn't mean things can't change; both Policy and the FHS are
amendable, and if there's sufficient justification for resurrecting
libexec, I'm sure that will happen. The problem I have is with the
attitude that Policy can be ignored for the Hurd port because it's
a different architecture, or that Policy should be amended to allow
libexec as a Hurd-specific extension. The consistent filesystem
interface is an important part of what makes Debian such a high-quality
distribution! If {/usr,}/libexec is deemed beneficial, then it should
be adopted for *ALL* ports, not just the Hurd and BSD ports.
Maintaining consistency and compatibility /within/ Debian should be
given much more importance than maintaining compatibility with systems
outside of Debian. Those who argue that libexec must be added to the
Hurd and BSD ports because it exists in other BSD (and Hurd?)
distributions seem to be ignoring the fact that, at least in the past,
the majority of Linux distributions *also* used /usr/libexec, despite
its absence from the FHS. But compatibility concerns alone are not
sufficient to override Policy, though they may be taken as a reason
to amend Policy.
The Debian Hurd and BSD ports should first and foremost be Debian
systems, and policy-compliance is central to Debian's identity -- even
when it would be more convenient to ignore it.
Steve Langasek
postmodern programmer
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