Bug#102213: PROPOSAL] Policy interpretation and exceptions

[Joey Hess <joeyh@debian.org>]

Anthony Towns wrote:
> +          The guidelines in this manual are expected to be interpreted
> +          intelligently, with a view to improving the technical quality
> +          of the Debian distribution.  Where a guideline in this manual
> +          does not make sense for a particular package, or describes
> +          an inadequate solution, the maintainer should discuss the
> +          issue with other developers via the <tt>debian-devel</tt>
> +          or <tt>debian-policy</tt> mailing lists, with a view to
> +          finding a better solution, or correcting a flaw in policy.
> +          In rare cases a package may be enough of a special case that
> +          it should not follow a guideline and the exception would just
> +          be confusing if listed in this manual itself.  In those cases,
> +          a comment to this effect should generally be included in the
> +          package's <tt>README.Debian</tt> file.

My only gripe with this is that the "In rare cases" bit doesn't ask the
maintainer to ask on -policy first. I quite like the idea of asking on
policy before bending it, and I'm quite in favor of letting people bend
it when it makes sense, so you're close to one second anyway.

-- 
see shy jo