Re: /usr/doc transition and other things
On Sun, Aug 29, 1999 at 06:08:54PM +1000, Anthony Towns wrote:
> Let me put it yet another way. We should be willing to add a lintian
> check for any additions to policy, and file severity: normal bug reports
> for every package in violation. (Which isn't to say we actually *should*,
> but we shouldn't make policy where that would be unreasonable)
>
> Does any of that make more sense, and/or seem a reasonable way of avoiding
> making the same sort of stuff-up again?
I think that does not make sense at all.
Current practice is a good guidance for the policy process, but being
strictly bound to it renders the policy group useless because we had no
chance to make real, innovative progress.
Let's consider changing the source format. We could either change the policy
manual first, and then let packages folow it, or wait until many packages
are converted and then adopt policy. I don't see why the second shall be
better than the first. Indeed, I see an advantage in the first because we
can specify the details in the policy before packages actually implement it,
and hence probably avoid confusion or surprises.
I also can't see why a package warrants a bug when it does not follow the
latest policy. Every package has a standard-version attached to it, which it
claims to follow. Only if packages bump the version number before following
the policy of this version, it shall be a bug.
So, changing the policy manual does not make 3000 packages buggy, because
those packages have a different version number. And we don't have a policy
about when a package is buggy because it follows an old standard version
(although we have a lintian check for this).
I think the rule "make all packages buggy" is very ill guided. Instead, I
would like people to see that packages update to new version numbers
regularly.
Thanks,
Marcus
--
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