Re: DEP 17: Improve support for directory aliasing in dpkg

[Ansgar <ansgar@43-1.org>]

Hi Russ,

On Wed, 2023-05-10 at 14:36 -0700, Russ Allbery wrote:
> Ansgar <ansgar@43-1.org> writes:
> > Debian going out of its way to tell derivative users to switch back from
> > merged-/usr to split-/usr is the *opposite* of trying to make things as
> > smooth for them as possible.
> 
> Yes, I agree with that part and I think I objected to that at the time.
> Nonetheless, one bad decision doesn't mean that it is Debian policy that
> we don't care about derivatives or their users.  I think we made a mistake
> there which is not in alignment with our ideals or our goals.  We should
> try to reverse that mistake, not double down on it.

My impression is that the tech-ctte disagrees on this point and would
not want to reverse the mistake, but double down on it (in your words).

Or rather my impression is that they would like to avoid any decision
on the dpkg mess situation. (Though not making a decision when asked is
of course also an explicit decision.)

So let me summarize Debian's "official" position as I understand it: we
do *NOT* care how dpkg's recommendations will break derivative
installations at all; if systems become unbootable, cause data loss,
... now or in the future that is explicitly fine.

Ansgar