On Wed, Jul 31, 2002 at 07:33:44AM -0600, Julian Gilbey wrote:
> On Wed, Jul 31, 2002 at 02:13:36AM +1000, Anthony Towns wrote:
> > __Debian Standards Document__
> > dpkg:
> > * version format
> > * maintainer scripts are run when and under what circumstances
Both of these are irrelevant to just about everybody, I'd've thought.
Version number comparison is checked with 'dpkg --compare-versions', and
the format is checked automatically by various tools. I've never found
it necessary to look at the details of either except when I'm poking at
apt or dpkg's internals, or when I've needed to do something really weird.
> > * what control file fields mean
Again, _what_ the fields mean ("Essential: yes" -- you can't uninstall
a package easily, "Depends: foo" -- don't install this package unless
foo's already installed) is a separate issue to when/why they should
be used, and what effects their use has ("Essential: yes" -- installed
on all Debian systems, so doesn't require a "Depends" unless it's new,
in which case you need a versioned dependency, because of this rule,
essential packages need to work unconfigured, etc).
> But with the wonders of XML includes, we can simply have the common
> pieces in appropriate separate external files (or something cleverer,
> but that's a detail) and include them in both places.
I think you're getting a bit over excited about the wonders of XML...
> In this way,
> they will be both in the specs document (useful for specs!) and the
> guidelines (useful for package developers) and always be in sync - yeah!
Including them in the guidelines just gets in the way. That's what I
was saying about trying to write up the BPP and finding the "version
comparison, etc" section being uncomfortable. If package developers
need them, they should look in the specs.
Cheers,
aj
--
Anthony Towns <aj@humbug.org.au> <http://azure.humbug.org.au/~aj/>
I don't speak for anyone save myself. GPG signed mail preferred.
``If you don't do it now, you'll be one year older when you do.''
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