Re: Switching /bin/sh to dash without dash essential

[Sam Hartman <hartmans@debian.org>]

>>>>> "Steve" == Steve Langasek <vorlon@debian.org> writes:

    Steve> On Fri, Jul 24, 2009 at 04:33:21AM -0400, Sam Hartman wrote:
    >> Steve, let's take a step back and calm down.

    >> Are you saying that your objection to engineering a solution
    >> where dash doesn't need to be essential is that it's not worth
    >> the effort?  I *think* that was the point of your message but
    >> am not entirely sure.

    Steve> Yes, that's definitely my position.  

OK, I'm fine with that.  I jumped into this mess because several
people asserted that we were making dash essential because it was
technically required.  As best I can tell that is false.  It seems
like there was a lot of not listening going on, and a lot of throwing
around assertions about what is and is not possible without actually
any attention to the accuracy of those assertions.  That makes me
grumpy and so I got involved.

I'm happy with the answer of "making dash essential is easier than not doing so and we have not seen a compelling reason to do something else."

    Steve> From what I can see,
    Steve> engineering a solution where dash doesn't need to be
    Steve> essential isn't worth *any* effort, because IMHO, so far
    Steve> the arguments for being able to remove dash from the system
    Steve> appear entirely contrived.


I think you're being unfair here.  There are arguments about technical
cleanlyness and design esthetics that seem reasonable.  I don't see
that these arguments appear contrived.  I'm happy to agree with you
though that these arguments don't justify the work.