Re: Should I remove unused directories from the source tree?
On Thu, Jul 03, 2003 at 07:30:15PM +0200, Steffen Moeller wrote:
> Matt Zimmerman wrote:
>
> >I don't think it is worthwhile to try to delete them; the mere presence
> >of these directories should not confuse anyone.
> I tend to disagree since it is not instantly clear if these are used to
> build the target. ldd clarifies the situation once the application is
> built, though.
In what situation do you envision a problem if this is not instantly clear?
I have exactly this situation with rrdtool and it has never been a problem.
> >How were you thinking of deleting them? You say "delete...from the
> >original source", but then say that .orig.tar.gz would be intact (which
> >is good).
> I am not a Debian developer (IANADD?), but I would prefer to have
> README.Debian explain the situation and to reduce the original source by
> the persistently unused directories. I do not think this is against the
> debian policy since these files are not really part of the package that is
> being packed, it is only a technical commodity to distribute these
> independent files together with it.
The orig.tar.gz should be pristine whenever possible. I recommend against
modifying it just for the sake of removing some unused parts. It is not
against policy to modify .orig.tar.gz, but I consider it to be in poor
taste.
--
- mdz
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