Re: Is the dependency rule distribution-wise?

[Santiago Vila <sanvila@unex.es>]

On Thu, 18 Feb 1999, Wichert Akkerman wrote:

> Previously Santiago Vila wrote:
> > Thanks for answering. So: what's the right priority for a library in
> > slink for which an important package in slink depends on?
> 
> Probably the same as the important package.

Well, apparently the ftp.debian.org maintainers disagree.

In slink, the info package is important, but depends on ncurses3.4 which
is optional.

If the dependency rule is to be considered "distribution-wise", ncurses3.4
may not be made optional in a certain release until all the packages of
standard or higher priorities have been recompiled in the same release.

If the dependency rule is not to be considered distribution-wise, which is
the rule to apply, then? Do we apply it arbitrarily? Example: In slink,
exim depends on libpcre1, so libpcre1 is important even if potato's exim
depends on libpcre2. Which is the difference between libpcre1 and
ncurses3.4?

Thanks.

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