Re: debhelper: /usr/doc problems again
Joey Hess wrote:
> > For example, I found that libpanel-applet0 leaves a single file in its
> > old doc directory (currently unexplainable and unreproducable by the
> > maintainer) preventing the compatibility link to be created.
[...]
> > Another example is the latest 'time' package, which doesn't delete the
> > old doc directory on upgrade because of a .dhelp file, resulting in no
> > compatibility link too.
>
> Seems like a per-package or dhelp bug.
Yes, I also think that these are not debhelper bugs (hence the severity
wishlist for this report). I supposed a more general problem behind these
things because some kinds of the same problems happen every now and then.
> > Some packages (bibtool, cpio, rxvt or even perl-5.005-*) on at least
> > two of the machines I maintain, had links to /usr/share/doc/package
> > (from /usr/doc/package), i.e. not to ../share/doc/package (absolute
> > instead of relative).
>
> None of these packages use debhelper to handle this.
Again "Yes". These were just some examples I found. I thought, that
debhelper might be changed to remedy such problems.
Besides, the bugs can be very subtle, see e.g. http://bugs.debian.org/46576
install-docs -r was run correctly, but a forgotten reference in the NEW
menu file kept .dhelp.
> > The question is, should the migration, for packages which want to do
> > it at all, be enforced? I.e., should the old doc directory be deleted
> > (rm -rf) before dh_installdocs tries to create the link?
>
> I do not want debhelper to do this, because it can lead to data loss. If
> the admin has installed something there, I don't want to delete it.
>
> This exactly parallells dpkg's behavior if the last file it knows about
> is removed from a directory and yet other files still remain there.
So maybe, just like dpkg, debhelper could output a warning if it doesn't/
cannot create the link? At least for a certain period of time, till the
migration is finished. I think this would even help package maintainers to
find the bug when they test their packages.
Ulf
Reply to: