On Wed, Sep 10, 2003 at 10:29:38PM +0200, Sam Hocevar wrote:
>
> Can anyone suggest better descriptions for my -data packages? I have
> five packages (allegro-demo, kq, rafkill, powermanga, wing) that are
> split in ${foo} and ${foo}-data, with this description:
Just sent a patch for allegro-demo-data (starts with 'a', and I'm going
through the list of bugged packages one by one)
>
> Package: ${foo}-data
> Description: graphics and audio data for ${foo}
> This package contains the architecture-independent data for ${foo}.
>
> Of course ${foo} has the full, proper description. I did not want to
> do longer long descriptions for -data packages because I want a keyword
> search to return the main package, not the -data package (which should
> ideally be hidden).
I believe that it would be better to write a concise description of what
${foo} is. Not the full description, of course, but maybe something like
"(...) data for ${foo}, a great tool to do X".
> I also have 8 other legacy packages, which should not be installed
> and are only here to provide smooth upgrades. The description is like
> this example:
>
> Package: vlc-alsa
> Description: legacy package that you should remove
> This package is now called vlc-plugin-alsa.
>
> Again, the vlc-plugin-alsa package has a proper and complete long
> description. Would "You should remove this package. It is now called
> vlc-plugin-alsa." be a better long description? Does it meet the
> average user's expectations?
Well, a number of dummy packages provide a more terse description of what
the user is expected to do with the package. Sample:
"(smalleiffel)
Description: Dummy package to ease change from smalleiffel to smarteiffel
SmallEiffel has been renamed upstream to SmartEiffel and a new Debian
package of that name has been released. This is a dummy package whose
sole purpose is to ensure a smooth upgrade from smalleiffel to
smarteiffel. It can be removed as soon as smarteiffel has been
installed."
'apt-cache search dummy' returns 139 packages, most of which have a verbose
description similar to the one above.
Maybe
"Description: ALSA audio output plugin for VLC [dummy]
The vlc-alsa package has been renamed to vlc-alsa-plugin.
This is a dummy package whose sole purpose is to ensure a
smooth upgrade from vlc-alsa to vlc-alsa-plugin.
.
This package is only useful to ensure clean upgrades from old Debian
releases and can be safely removed."
Would explain best the situation for an average user?
Regards
Javi
Attachment:
pgpwAPdVqAWmW.pgp
Description: PGP signature