Bug#1099787: lintian: package-installs-apt-preferences should be Pedantic, not Error
On Sat, 27 Sep 2025 09:26:59 +0300 =?utf-8?q?Martin-=C3=89ric_Racine?= <martin-eric.racine@iki.fi> wrote:
> 1) Josh's bug report doesn't refer to any Policy item.
There are a number of things that Debian packages could do that would be
seriously buggy but aren't documented in Policy. And by design, Policy tends to
lag, rather than lead. But nonetheless, sure, it would *also* be useful
to document this in policy.
> 2) It also suggests that packages SHOULD NOT install any APT
> preference, but asks for Lintian to produce an Error. Typically
> MUST[NOT] would produce an Error, while SHOULD[NOT] would produce a
> Warning.
I generally have the impression that Lintian has not been strict about
RFC 2119 the way Policy is. But sure, an audit of Lintian messages to
change "should"s in errors to "must" seems like a good idea.
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