Bug#504880: Disambiguate "installed" for packages

[Kurt Roeckx <kurt@roeckx.be>]

On Wed, Feb 11, 2009 at 11:31:34AM +0100, Raphael Hertzog wrote:
> diff --git a/policy.sgml b/policy.sgml
> index f5c6818..8727be1 100644
> --- a/policy.sgml
> +++ b/policy.sgml
> @@ -4323,10 +4323,17 @@ Build-Depends: foo [!i386] | bar [!amd64]
>  		The <tt>Depends</tt> field should also be used if the
>  		<prgn>postinst</prgn>, <prgn>prerm</prgn> or
>  		<prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts require the package to be
> -		present in order to run.  Note, however, that the
> -		<prgn>postrm</prgn> cannot rely on any non-essential
> -		packages to be present during the <tt>purge</tt>
> -		phase.
> +		present in order to run (if both packages are involved in a
> +                dependency loop, this might not work as expected, see the
> +                explanation a few paragraphs back).  In the case of
> +                <prgn>postinst</prgn> and <prgn>postrm</prgn>, the
> +                depended-on packages will be unpacked and configured.
> +                Note, however, that the <prgn>postrm</prgn> cannot rely on
> +                any non-essential packages to be present during the
> +                <tt>purge</tt> phase.  In the case of <prgn>prerm</prgn>,
> +                the depended-on package will at least be unpacked (it might
> +                be configured too, but you can't rely on it unless you use
> +                <tt>Pre-Depends</tt>).
>  	    </item>
>  
>  	    <tag><tt>Recommends</tt></tag>

This atleast states how I think it works.


Kurt