Bug#49532: 'dselect' should support local packages better

[cd_smith@ou.edu]

Package: dpkg
Version: 1.4.1.16
Severity: wishlist

The dependency system in dselect (and perhaps dpkg as well... I don't
know how this stuff works) could have much better support for locally
installed packages.  I'm envisioning something like a 'L' state for a
package, which means "I've installed this locally, I promise!" and would
prevent dselect from bothering anyone about failed dependencies.  The 'L'
state could be labeled as an advanced feature, with clear indicators that
using it could seriously screw up the system unless you know what you're
doing.

There are, of course, issues to be resolved with this approach.  Such as,
how does the user specify a version that's locally installed?  How do we
make sure that users make the same corrections to version numbering as
package maintainers do (1.22 -> 1.2.2, etc)?  What happens when a new
version of a package is released, but the old version was locally
installed?  But these all seem solvable at some level.