Re: Debian GNU [was: smarter way to differ architectures needed?]

[Gordon Matzigkeit <gord@trick.fig.org>]

>>>>> Brian May writes:

 >> Anything that has a `|' in its dependencies means that there is
 >> more than one kind of binary package, so, say the binary packages
 >> were different depending on the kernel you had installed:

 BM> I think | is aready used to mean "or"? or is it "||"?

It's "||", you're correct.  If you think about it, you'll see why the
symbol used to designate multiple possibilities for a binary package
should be the same one used to designate "or" in the Dependencies
line.

 BM> Note: The value of cpu-all is a special value that would expand
 BM> to "cpu-i386|cpu-sparc|...". Similarly for "os-all". This might
 BM> seem a bit strange, but I don't think it is a good idea to list
 BM> every possible combination in every source file.

I agree with you, but I really prefer `hwarch-' to `cpu-', since the
CPU does not an Architecture make.

 BM> When the source package is compiled, the appropriate items from
 BM> the "Nonshared-depends" would get moved to "Depends".

Or, equivalently, the `||' symbols in the Depends field would be
replaced with the dependency that was actually used.

-- 
 Gordon Matzigkeit <gord@fig.org>  //\ I'm a FIG (http://www.fig.org/)
Committed to freedom and diversity \// I use GNU (http://www.gnu.org/)