Does use of dpkg-maintscript-helper require a pre-dependency?

[Jonathan Nieder <jrnieder@gmail.com>]

Hi Raphaël et al,

The dpkg-maintscript-helper manpage states:

	Given that dpkg-maintscript-helper is used in the preinst,
	using it unconditionally requires a pre-dependency to ensure
	that the required version of dpkg has been configured before.

but that seems somewhat ambiguous to me now that a version of dpkg
with that functionality is in squeeze.  Is the pre-dependency just to
ensure the right version of dpkg has been unpacked, or does it have to
have been configured?

Put another way, is dpkg-maintscript-helper part of dpkg's essential
functionality?

The reason I ask is to see whether one needs to go through the usual
process of adding a pre-dependency (following policy §3.5) to use
dpkg-maintscript-helper in wheezy.  (If not, backporters would still
need a pre-dependency but the package in wheezy can be a little
simpler.)

Thanks for dpkg-maintscript-helper, by the way; it's very handy.
Jonathan