Bug#945256: Do not make `gcc` depend on one paticular version.
On 22.11.19 04:19, Gong S. wrote:
> Package: gcc
> Version: 4:9.2.1-3.1
> Severity: wishlist
>
> It seems that the GCC-related packages (`cpp`, `g++`, etc.) have hard dependencies to one particular version of said programs, so when a new version of GCC is released and a package depends on `gcc` or `cpp`, I have to install multiple versions of GCC or CPP.
>
> I think that a better idea is to:
> 1. Make GCC-related packages virtual packages, and make various versions of `gcc` like `gcc-8` and `gcc-9` provide the `gcc` package name.
> 2. Use the debian-alternatives system for the GCC-related binaries, so if a program only needs to use a compiler, it would use the latest version (or user-specifies version with `update-alternatives`), and if a program needs a particular version, it would directly use `gcc-8` or `gcc-9`.
No. GCC versions usually come with different ABIs and APIs in some cases, like
having different soversions. Handling different ABIs using alternatives is
simply wrong.
> Please limit your reply to 7-bit ASCII.
> I refuse to see your idiotic emoji in a TTY.
Please stop making idiotic requests.
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