Re: Splitting a package

[Andreas Metzler <ametzler@logic.univie.ac.at>]

On Mon, Oct 13, 2003 at 04:51:12PM +0200, Alberto Gonzalez Iniesta wrote:
> I'd like to know if this justifies splitting a package. AFAIK the
> size or the existence of shared libs justify splitting a package, but
> not this.
> 
> I've got a package that contains a command line program and a couple of
> front-ends (motif and KDE) for it. This makes neccessary to install 
> lots of KDE libs even if you're only using the command line program.
> 
> Would all this Depends justify splitting it into the command line
> package and the front-ends one?
> 
> http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=215502

Imho yes, the depends are very heavy handed (KDE, qt, Lesstiff).

If you split you'll either have to split in hotswap (GUI) depending on
hotswap-text or hotswap-text, hotswap-gui and dummy package hotswap
depending on both for seamless upgrades.
                 cu andreas