Hi,
Many packages ship minified versions of Javascript code for things like
jQuery. The usual way to handle this is to not ship the minified code
with the binary package and to request a dependency to libjs-jquery and
replace the file with a symbolic link.
What I didn't know until recently is that the minified version in the
source package should be removed (or the appropriate full version should
be appended).
On the behalf of the FTP master team, Ansgar Burchardt explained me why
the dependency to libjs-jquery is not enough to fulfill the "provide the
sources" part since the source in the archive may not correspond to the
version included in the upstream tarball.
I agree with the rationale. However, here is mine:
1. The license allows redistribution and modification of the minified
version without having the sources. Therefore, we are only dealing
with DFSG here.
2. The package does not need the shipped minified version to work
correctly. We replace it with another minified version from another
package. This may mean that from the point of view of the
package, the sources provided in libjs-jquery is "equivalent" to the
sources that would have been provided with the package.
3. Repacking the original tarball just to remove those files is extra
work.
I know this is tedious but what others think about this matter?
--
Don't sacrifice clarity for small gains in "efficiency".
- The Elements of Programming Style (Kernighan & Plauger)
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