Re: auto-removal and alternative dependencies

[Daniel Pocock <daniel@pocock.pro>]

On 08/12/16 13:35, Andrey Rahmatullin wrote:
> On Thu, Dec 08, 2016 at 01:02:20PM +0100, Daniel Pocock wrote:
>> I have two packages that depend on: nagios3 | icinga
>> 
>> nagios3 is being removed[1], but icinga[2] is still available, so
>> why can't my packages continue to list nagios3 as a possible
>> dependency for the convenience of those people who continue to
>> use it?
> "the packages in main
> 
> must not require or recommend a package outside of main for
> compilation or execution (thus, the package must not declare a
> "Pre-Depends", "Depends", "Recommends", "Build-Depends", or
> "Build-Depends-Indep" relationship on a non-main package)"
> 

I don't think that clearly addresses the case of alternative dependencies.

My packages do not "require" nagios3, although they will work with it
if the user doesn't have Icinga.

Maybe that clause could be extended to state that packages (may|may
not) include alternative dependencies that are not in main, as long as
at least one of the alternatives is in main.

Regards,

Daniel