dpkg -- overwrite empty directories?

[Ryan Underwood <nemesis-lists@icequake.net>]

Hello,

I have a package that Replaces: another package.  The former package
stored files in a particular directory (/usr/lib/foo); when the package
is removed, it leaves that directory behind, empty.  The new package has
a symlink at that location, instead of a directory.  dpkg, however, does
not replace the directory with the symlink.  Hence, I have to
specifically check for this situation in maintainer scripts, and remove
the empty directory if it exists.

Am I way off base here, or would it be robust behavior for dpkg to
replace empty directories with symlinks, files, whatever, if the empty 
directory is not claimed by a currently installed package?  It could be
argued that the package that left the empty directory behind is broken,
so I'm looking for circumstances in which my proposed behavior would
present a problem.

Perhaps a warning would also be a good idea, so that the replacement
package doesn't silently fail when a directory was attempted to be
overwritten.

-- 
Ryan Underwood, <nemesis at icequake.net>, icq=10317253