Bug#486453: Policy 8.2 suggests libraryname-tools, but not libraryname-utils

[Fabian Greffrath <greffrath@leat.rub.de>]

Package: debian-policy
Version: 3.8.0.1
Severity: minor

Hi,

Policy currently reads:

> 8.2 Shared library support files
[...]
> Run-time support programs that use the shared library but are not
> required for the library to function or files used by the shared
> library that can be used by any version of the shared library
> package should instead be put in a separate package. This package
> might typically be named libraryname-tools; note the absence of the
> soversion in the package name.

However, in practice the -utils suffix for the discussed type of 
packages seems to be much more widely used than the -tools suffix that 
is suggested by policy 8.2. On my system I get the following results:

$ dpkg -l \*-tools | wc -l
27

$ dpkg -l \*-utils | wc -l
38

I propose a change in the wording of the last sentence, maybe to 
something like this:

This package might typically be named libraryname-utils or (at your 
option) libraryname-tools; note the absence of the soversion in the 
package name.


However, if this would be a real recommendation regarding the package 
name for run-time support programs, we would need many transitional 
-utils packages poiting to many newly introduced -tools packages in 
the archive to become policy compliant. ;)

Cheers,
Fabian