Bug#34652: PROPOSAL] Policy is not clear about nawk.

[Santiago Vila <sanvila@unex.es>]

retitle 34652 Policy is not clear enough about nawk.
thanks

On Tue, 16 Mar 1999, Richard Braakman wrote:

> Santiago Vila wrote:
> > The bug:
> > =======
> > 
> > The /usr/doc/debian-policy/virtual-package-names-list.text.gz file says:
> > 
> > awk                     Anything providing suitable /usr/bin/{awk,nawk}
> > 
> > So: Is "nawk" an approved virtual package name or not? It appears in the
> > right-hand side but not in the left-hand side!
> 
> I don't see the problem.  awk is a virtual package that provides the
> binaries /usr/bin/awk and /usr/bin/nawk, both of them new awks.
> There's no bug anywhere.

Well, I withdrawn the proposal for now.

I do not withdrawn the bug: If every awk in the system is already a "new
awk", why do we need /usr/bin/nawk at all?, we could use always
/usr/bin/awk and it would always work.

Is there a rationale somewhere?

Maybe we should check what does POSIX say about /usr/bin/awk (does it
have to be a new awk?) and act accordingly.

Thanks.

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