Bug#257726: debian-policy: Please remove virtual package cron-daemon
On 2004-07-05 Chris Waters <xtifr@debian.org> wrote:
> On Mon, Jul 05, 2004 at 09:35:40PM +0200, Andreas Metzler wrote:
> > On 2004-07-05 Chris Waters <xtifr@debian.org> wrote:
> > [...]
> > > It promises that your package provides a cron daemon. What's so hard
> > > about that?
> > If I want to use it in Dependencies (not just suggests) it is
> > absolutely necesary to specify *what* is provided.
> And existing international standards that define exactly what a cron
> daemon is and how it works aren't a good enough answer to that
> question because of what, again?
The point of the whole discussion is that /policy/ currently does
*not* say "cron-daemon" must provide the functionality in "existing
international standard XXX".
> > > > 4. /var/spool/cron/crontabs/* (think 'upgrade' from vixie cron to a
> > > > different 'cron-daemon' provider)
> > > I don't know, do any of our packages use this? And if not, why do we
> > > care?
> > We have not just packages but also some users. ;-) I've got a personal
> > crontab there which I would not like to lose.
> And I don't want to switch mail-transport-agent, because I'm using
> specific features of my current MTA that aren't available in most
> others. But that doesn't mean that mail-transport-agent is a bad
> virtual package name. If you're using specific features of your
> specific cron, then don't switch! :)
I am not arguing that /var/spool/cron/crontabs/* *must* be compatible,
but that policy should specify *whether* they must be compatible.
> I'm not saying there aren't issues we should address. I'm just
> saying, why don't we try to move forward instead of throwing up our
> hands at the first suggestion that there might possibly be a problem
> someday in the future, if everybody in the project suddenly becomes
> incredibly stupid. It's an honest question.
If there is a currently useless definition in policy throwing it out
quickly before it is adopted, and taking time to think about a useful
one does not look like "throwing up our hands" but like a useful
course of action to me.
cu andreas
--
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fuhggvat qbja gur juveyvat tha.
Neal Stephenson in "Snow Crash"
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