${python:Breaks}
[Raphael Hertzog, 2011-03-09]
> On Wed, 09 Mar 2011, Piotr Ożarowski wrote:
> > [Josselin Mouette, 2011-03-06]
> > > You might “like” Breaks, but this:
> > > Depends: python
> > > Breaks: python (>= 2.8), python (<< 2.5)
> > > has the same semantics as:
> > > Depends: python (>= 2.5), python (<< 2.8)
> >
> > Yes it does; if you will not add ${python:Breaks} in debian/control,
> > that's what dh_python2 will generate actually.
>
> Having a different behaviour depending on whether a variable is listed in
> a dependency or not does not look like good design to me.
>
> > Packages with public modules do not really care about default Python
> > version usually so why should they depend on python package¹?
> >
> > [¹] if package ships .py files, there's a dependency on python package
> > due to pycompile/pyclean scripts, but if package is providing .so files
> > only, there's no need for "python" in Depends
>
> This might be true but it smells like a useless optimization at the cost
> of abusing the Breaks field. First of because you use it like "IsBrokenBy"
> and then because Breaks is usually used to force the upgrade of the broken
> package to a non-broken version. But you're not using it that way and I'm
> not sure how well APT will cope with this.
>
> > > What is the point of doing that?
> >
> > Breaks will warn user if an upgrade of python can break some scripts with
> > /usr/bin/python in shebang, but python-foo packages can still be usable so
> > I prefer Breaks (because it's easier to override).
>
> I really don't understand your point. If the default python is not
> supported by python-foo, then it won't be coinstallable whether you're
> using Depends or Breaks...
seriously, THERE WILL BE NO NEW PYTHON 2.X VERSION RELEASED UPSTREAM¹,
we don't have to worry about 2.X transitions when 2.7 will become the
only supported one. If you don't like Breaks, I will remove it, it
really doesn't matter - that's why at the beginning I wasn't generating
either of these dependencies (in Depends and in Breaks).
What do you want me to do? Can I drop both of them or do you want me to
drop Breaks only?
[¹] I guess I have to repeat it in my every mail, people still see
problems that will not exist in few months
--
Piotr Ożarowski Debian GNU/Linux Developer
www.ozarowski.pl www.griffith.cc www.debian.org
GPG Fingerprint: 1D2F A898 58DA AF62 1786 2DF7 AEF6 F1A2 A745 7645
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