Hi,
After searching on this, I believe the best solution is to use
alternatives. In detail:
-- Debian Policy (Section 10.1) states that "...The case of two programs
having the same functionality but different implementations is handled
via "alternatives" or the "Conflicts" mechanism...". I believe the two
programs fall under this category: difference in the implementation.
-- The use of the "Conflicts" mechanism is not appropriate for the two
packages in question, because they provide sets of utilities, not just
one binary. It would be better for the users of Debian to be able to
have them all installed together and choose their preferred binary for
executing parallel jobs.
-- In addition, the "alternatives" mechanism does not force any user to
make any changes to his/her scripts (as a choice to rename one of the
binaries would for the respective user group); they just set their
preference and use their scripts as before.
Using alternatives will require to rename both binaries, in order to
keep the name for the symlink, and make changes to both packages install
scripts. No version upgrade is required. It also seems to require (I am
not sure whether this is a requirement or an option; please advice) the
use of a "Provides: parallel" in the control files of both packages, and
thus, by consequence, the renaming of parallel package to gnu-parallel.
Of the possible choices of names I would prefer {mparallel/gparallel},
but any other opinion is welcomed; please state your preference.
I would be happy to make the needed changes to both packages and upload
the new revisions to debian.net (I 'll use the gawk/mawk scripts as a
template). Regarding the moreutils package, I 'll mark the changelog
entry as an NMU and add that closes #597050.
Please, provide your feedback about this proposed arrangement.
regards
George Zarkadas
Στις 12-04-2011, ημέρα Τρι, και ώρα 01:40 +0300, ο/η George Zarkadas
έγραψε:
> Hi,
>
> The next parallel release from that in the package (20110322) includes
> the --tollef switch and a site-wide config file (/etc/parallel/config)
> to address this issue.
>
> Thus parallel can install by default with --tollef activated in the
> config file, replacing the /usr/bin/parallel executable without breaking
> scripts.
>
> Or if this (the replacement) is not wanted for any reason, then the
> alternatives mechanism could be used.
>
> I 'll have a closer look at the available options and come back with
> the next version of the package, that will also close #597050.
>
> Meanwhile, any ideas or suggestions are welcomed.
>
> regards
> George Zarkadas
>
> Στις 11-04-2011, ημέρα Δευ, και ώρα 16:10 -0400, ο/η Joey Hess έγραψε:
> > George Zarkadas wrote:
> > > It builds these binary packages:
> > > parallel - Execute jobs in parallel locally or using remote computers
> >
> > I have not figured out what to do about moreutils containing a
> > /usr/bin/parallel that is not entirely command-line compatable with this
> > one. #597050
> >
>
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