Installers for /opt packages
On Wed, Sep 22, 1999 at 11:41:07 +0100, Philip Hands wrote:
> IMO if a package of this type provides a worthwhile installer of it's
> own that puts the software into /opt, and actually works with Debian,
> we shouldn't bother with a debian package for it --- just point people
> at the upstream package.
It depends on one's notion of "worthwile". Compare for example the Debian
netscape packages with the upstream ones. The Debian ones are more
worthwhile in that they separate out java, nethelp etc., which we could
expect a worthwile upstream installer to do as well, but also thoroughly
integrate netscape into several pieces of infrastructure that are fairly
Debian-specific like mime-support and menu, which we often can't expect
upstream installers to do. Generalising: having Debian installers makes
sense in those cases where having them makes a /opt package more conformant
to Debian's policy.
> Otherwise, what happens when the upstream gets their installer sorted out
> properly, and a use downloads and installs it into /opt overwriting the
> files that dpkg thought belonged to the debianized version?
This is just a particular instance of a much more general issue which also
holds for e.g. kernels.
Ray
--
Tevens ben ik van mening dat Nederland overdekt dient te worden.
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