Spliting packages between pkg and pkg-data

[Bill Allombert <allomber@math.u-bordeaux.fr>]

Hello Debian developers,

When doing research about circular-deps, I looked at a lot of packages
that are split between a binary package and a data package. This is a
good thing since this reduce the total siez of the archive, however
there are simple rules that should be followed:

1) Make sure pkg-data is actually arch: all.

2) Name it in a way that make the relationship obvious: For example,
   if the upstream name is 'foo', name the binary package 'foo' and the
   data package 'foo-data'.  

3) Keep the files that 'signal' executables in the same package than the
   executable (e.g. menu file, program manpage).

4) Do not put symlinks in data packages that point to files in the binary
   package. This do not really save space and avoid dandling symlinks
   when the binary package is not installed.

5) Of course move /usr/share/pkg to pkg-data.

6) Do not make pkg-data to Depends on pkg.

7) Try to do it correctly the first time: if you move file between
   pkg and pkg-data, you will need to use Replaces:

Please check your packages follow these rules, and if not, do not forget
about rule 7.

Cheers,
-- 
Bill. <ballombe@debian.org>

Imagine a large red swirl here.