Weak Install (Re: [PROPOSAL] Full text of GPL must be included)

[Itai Zukerman <zukerman@math-hat.com>]

On Wed, 29 Nov 2000 12:51:33 -0500, Ben Collins <bcollins@debian.org> wrote:
> Maybe it would be easier to label things like conffiles, but call it
> "weakinstall". Treat it like a directory, where many packages can install
> it and own it, and removing them wont remove it unless no other packages
> have it installed.

I agree with Ben, with the disclaimer that when installing a
weakinstall file, dpkg should check that:

  1.  an existing file is itself weakinstall.
  2.  the existing file has the same permissions, owner, and
      contents as the new weakinstall file.

This seems to satisfy those who insist every package come with its own
copy of the GPL, and those who want to reduce the cruft on their
system.

Could such a feature be implemented cleanly?

-itai