Re: Advice on how best to handle non-backwards compatibility
Scripsit Steve Langasek <vorlon@netexpress.net>
>> On 2004-01-07 13:55 +1000, Andrew Pollock wrote:
>>> I'm wondering how best to proceed. I'm not sure that I can
>>> on-the-fly convert the printcap. I'm thinking the best thing I can
>>> do is detect this situation, and pop up a Debconf note alerting
>>> the user to the situation,
> Debconf notes DO NOT excuse RC bugs, and torching existing config files
> (/etc/printcap is a config file) is an RC bug!
Who spoke about torching the file?
> If a tool cannot properly handle the non-trivial task of parsing
> well-formed printcap files, then we should not be shipping such crap, no
> matter how pretty the interface might look.
As long as it can edit the files it itself generates, it is a useful
tool for new users.
That it cannot read files other tools (or older versions of itself)
generates should be treated as a bug, but I don't see how it could get
a severity higher than "important" - except perhaps the "in the
maintainer's opinion" part of "serious".
--
Henning Makholm "The practical reason for continuing our
system is the same as the practical reason
for continuing anything: It works satisfactorily."
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