Bug#918664: linux-latest: please provide a meta package for a sane architecture-specific default

[Johannes 'josch' Schauer <josch@debian.org>]

Source: linux-latest
Version: 4.17+95
Severity: wishlist

Hi,

please provide an architecture-specific meta package which depends on a
sane default of a kernel image on that architecture.

For example:

Package: linux-image
Depends: linux-image-powerpc64 [ppc64],
         linux-image-parisc [hppa],
         linux-image-armmp [armhf],
         linux-image-686 [i386],
         ...

I know that the right kernel image is not a function of the Debian
architecture alone. But this meta-package is not supposed to replace
kernel selection for d-i or the like. It is meant to be one central
place to encode a sane default mapping in the Debian linux kernel
package instead of (poorly) replicating such a mapping in individual
packages.

Examples:

    https://sources.debian.org/src/autopkgtest/5.7/tools/autopkgtest-build-qemu/?hl=118#L100
    https://sources.debian.org/src/supermin/5.1.19-4/debian/control/?hl=26#L17
    https://sources.debian.org/src/live-build/1:20180925/scripts/build/installer_debian-installer/?hl=330#L317
    https://sources.debian.org/src/fai/5.7.3/conf/NFSROOT/?hl=64#L49
    https://sources.debian.org/src/propellor/5.5.0-2/src/Propellor/Property/Machine.hs/?hl=192#L186
    https://sources.debian.org/src/libguestfs/1:1.38.6-2/debian/control/?hl=53#L52
    https://sources.debian.org/src/nbdkit/1.8.2-1/debian/control/?hl=25#L23
    https://sources.debian.org/src/python-diskimage-builder/2.16.0-1/diskimage_builder/elements/debian-minimal/package-installs.yaml/?hl=3#L1
    https://sources.debian.org/src/debootstick/2.1/scripts/create-image/target/pc/packages/?hl=11#L14

I stumbled across this problem because I was about to write some similar
logic in my own upstream project mmdebstrap. I thought that instead,
such a default mapping from Debian architecture to sensible linux kernel
image default should live in the linux-latest source package.

Thanks!

cheers, josch