Bug#163666: debian-policy: Unclear result with [arch] and |

[Michal 'hramrach' Suchanek <hramrach_l@centrum.cz>]

Package: debian-policy
Version: N/A
Severity: normal

In section 7.1 the Debain Policy manual says that 'pkg (version) [arch]' is ignored for calculating dependencies.
This is not really clear as discussed in bug 160129.

One could think that 'pkg [arch] | otherpkg' is interpreted as 'otherpkg'
in !arch case because 'pkg [arch]' is ignored.
On the other hand, 'pkg [arch]' can be easily implemented in logic as
'arch IMPLIES pkg', which is true for !arch and makes the dependency appear
'ignored' in the simple case w/o |. But 'pkg [arch] | otherpkg' would be
always true for !arch this way and no dependency on otherpkg ever required.

I'd appreciate if the documentation described implemented behavior clearly.