Bug#518199: debian-policy: virtual package names for doom-related packages

[Jon Dowland <jon+bts@alcopop.org>]

On Thu, Mar 05, 2009 at 11:46:48AM +0100, Wouter Verhelst
wrote:
> The game data defines what game you play; the engine
> defines _how_ you play it. Personally, I couldn't care
> less how exactly a game is run on my system, as long as it
> is a game I like. IOW, the data is what the user will
> choose, not the engine.

That is the stance we decided on within the games team,
that the game data mostly defined what you were playing,
rather than the engine.  Doom afficionados I think will
be more engine-oriented (it took me some time to come
around to this way of thinking)

When it comes to choosing a combination to play (rather
than install), we use the alternative system both for
/usr/games/doom and for /usr/share/games/doom/doom2?.wad
(and more), but this is mostly a token gesture. I think
that a GUI launcher tool would be much more useful for
combinations of engine, world data, any third-party world
data options and also setting up game preferences (level,
skill, single player, multiplayer, various other flags etc.)
and I plan to work on finding one to package or writing
one from scratch within the Squeeze cycle.

>From an installation POV, I tend to take a pessimistic
approach: some users will search for "doom" and install the
first thing they see; others will seek out an engine
they've heard of; others will take the game resource route.
This is why we have this pseudo-circular dependency, to
cover both bases.


-- 
Jon Dowland