/usr/bin/editor policy implementation

[Dale Scheetz <dwarf@polaris.net>]

I, and the other editor maintainers, have been working on a priority
list to aid in implimenting the new /usr/bin/editor policy. It has been
very easy to come to closure, but the discussion has brought up several
issues that I thought needed broader consideration.

First: There are several packages that are classified as editors that
clearly are not useful as the "default" editor. The two easy to understand
examples are; addressbook, and beav. Addressbook is just that, and nothing
more. It keeps its data in its own format and could do gross things if
chosen as the default. (Imagine /etc/fstab being formatted as an
addressbook) Beav, on the other hand, is a binary editor, and also a poor
choice for a "default" editor.

Second: There are editors which come from non-free and are not always
available with the distribution. In discussions with the maintainer of
kedit it seemed we both concluded that it should be removed from the list.
I am not completely sure that is the correct solution. So, there is some
question about how to deal with non-free editors.

Third: The use of negative priorities for those editors that require X
window, or other "special" user interfaces is seen as an easy way to group
those editors. This is not an indication of "value" and not intended to
denigrate these products.

Fourth: The space between the priorities, as presented in the following
list, is intended to provide "slots" for additional editors, or for
"reshuffling" positions of the current entries in the list. This is not a
static pronouncement, but an adjustable framework.


============================== begin proposal ========================

			elvis		120
			vim		110
Standard	____	nvi		100
			fte		90
			jed		80
			joe		70
	*		beav		60	* to be removed
			ee		50
			pico		40
			elvis-tiny	30
Base		____	ae		20
			ed		10
			emacs		0
	*		kedit		-10	* possible removal
			wily		-20
			axe		-30
			nedit		-40
			sam		-50
			sex		-60
			xcoral		-70
			xwpe		-80
						
			xemacs		-100



Implimenting the above priority list for ae was very simple. It only
required the addition of the following scripts:

postinst:

#! /bin/sh

update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/editor editor /bin/ae 10 \
  --slave /usr/man/man1/editor.1.gz editor.1.gz /usr/man/man1/ae.1.gz

exit 0

prerm:

#! /bin/sh

if [ "$1" != "upgrade" ]
then
  update-alternatives --remove editor /bin/ae
fi

exit 0

======================= end proposal =============================

Some of this information should probably end up in the Policy docs, but
I'll gladly leave that up to the folks on debian-policy.

Any and all comments welcome,

Dwarf
-- 
_-_-_-_-_-_-                                          _-_-_-_-_-_-_-

aka   Dale Scheetz                   Phone:   1 (904) 656-9769
      Flexible Software              11000 McCrackin Road
      e-mail:  dwarf@polaris.net     Tallahassee, FL  32308

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