Re: Should libpam-elogind Provide libpam-systemd ?

[Josh Triplett <josh@joshtriplett.org>]

Ian Jackson wrote:
> tl/dr: would this be wrong
>    Package: libpam-elogind
>    Provides: libpam-systemd
> and should there be a Conflicts too ?

Please don't, no, for multiple reasons.

First, various packages followed the widely offered advice of using
libpam-systemd as the correct package to depend on if you need systemd
services, as it incorporated the appropriate alternatives on
systemd-sysv and systemd-shim. So packages depending on libpam-systemd
may depend on more aspects of systemd than just the pam module.

Second, based on experiences with systemd-shim, I would expect that
elogind will likely be *mostly* compatible with systemd's services, but
not necessarily perfectly compatible, especially when it comes to
current features. Using a Provides would make it more difficult for
packages to handle such compatibility issues.

Please instead just continue providing a separate pam module, please
*conflict* with libpam-systemd to avoid having debugging adventures
involving one interfering with the other, and please work with packages
that depend on libpam-systemd to add appropriate alternatives like
libpam-systemd | libpam-elogind if and *only* if they work with both.