[Date Prev][Date Next] [Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

Big changes in the X packages



On Mon, Aug 31, 1998 at 09:26:16AM -0700, Jim Pick wrote:
> This is going to be a pretty tough policy decision to make.  Right
> now, we've got several people who are holding "positions" for or
> against different proposals.  That's not going to move us any closer
> to a resolution of this policy question.  That's a sign that we might
> have to move to a more formal process.

Well, I withdraw my suggestion that we wax /usr/X11R6 (except as a tree of
symlinks into /usr/bin, /usr/lib, etc.).  Manoj convinced me.  The FHS is
pretty clear on this point, and if Debian unilaterally makes a change of
this magnitude, in flagrant violation of the standard, we're no better than
Microsoft.

However, I think I have come up with a may of managing the X hierarchy so
that if things change in the future, they will be more easily managed then
they are at present.  I'm stripping xbase down to just a directory, some
symlinks, some documentation, and the maintainer scripts.  The job of
xbase's maintainer scripts will be to manage the upgrade process in all its
hideousness (anyone who's seen the existing maintainer scripts for xbase
can attest to that).

For a preview of what's coming, see
http://master.debian.org/~branden/xsf.html .

Essentially, xbase will become standard (since xlib6g already is) but will
be very small.  This is not your father's xbase.  xserver-common and xlib6g
will each depend on xbase.  Everything else that uses X eventually depends
on either xserver-common or xlib6g.

-- 
G. Branden Robinson                 |   "I came, I saw, she conquered."  The
Purdue University                   |   original Latin seems to have been
branden@purdue.edu                  |   garbled.
http://www.ecn.purdue.edu/~branden/ |   -- Robert Heinlein

Attachment: pgpcJZl0e93wk.pgp
Description: PGP signature


Reply to: