Bug#30036: debian-policy could include emacs policy

[Ian Jackson <ian@chiark.greenend.org.uk>]

Joey Hess writes ("Bug#30036: debian-policy could include emacs policy"):
...
> I think we should move the menu hierarchy out of the menu documentation and
> into policy. It is something that could benefit from being maintained by the
> policy list, and it needs the weight of policy behind it to ensure that all
> packages be made to comply with it, so that the menu hierarchy is kept
> consistent.

Both you and Manoj have used the phrase `weight of policy'.  Can you
explain what this means please ?

Debian's policy documents do not exist to give people a bigger hammer
to hit recalcitrant opponents over the head with.

Our policy documents[1] exist to describe how things are done in
Debian, so that different maintainers can make software that works
together.  Some of these documents are descriptions of essentially
political requirements, or of procedures; others are statements of
which choice Debian has made regarding various technical decisions;
still others are programmer documentation for our packaging tools,
utilities, etc.

[1] I don't mean just the policy manuals; I include everything that
says how we do things, that isn't simply documention for some
non-Debian-specific package.

Ian.