newer sub package zaps main package instead of waiting

[jidanni@jidanni.org]

Say, often a developer upgrades a group of related packages, but they
don't hit the mirrors at the same time. This causes apt-get
dselect-upgrade and dist-upgrade to remove the older parts instead of
holding back for the newer parts. One must use apt-get upgrade for the
many days the condition persists.

Apparently the problem is in the build system for different
architectures.

It seems some simple enhancement somewhere in the chain of processes
from the developer down thru apt would alleviate the problem.

The goal would be the sid user could then use apt-get dselect-upgrade
or dist-upgrade without the risk of removing packages just because one
part of their group hit the mirror first.

I.e., instead of just saying that sid is a man's world, not for kids,
it would be better to see what enhancement could be made to avoid the
problem. Maybe "Package Group" is a new field needed in a package
header? Maybe some additional general apt logic switch?

Some examples are transmission #495679, and gimp-data zapping gimp.