Hi,
> I attempted to simulate this change in Lintian with a totally
> separate hacky script
(I like how this implies that Lintian, too, is a hacky script...)
Do let me know when you are happy with the output so we can update
Lintian, etc.
Regards,
-- 
      ,''`.
     : :'  :     Chris Lamb
     `. `'`      lamby@debian.org / chris-lamb.co.uk
       `-