Bug#569219: Document transitional and meta-packages
Package: developers-reference
Version: 3.4.3
Severity: wishlist
Tags: patch
We have several meta-packages and transitional packages in the archive, some of them do not document that anywhere in their description.
Users should be given such an information, so they can decide to remove some to save disk space and to remove useless packages from the system.
I propose to clearly state a package is a meta-package or a transitioanl package in the long description. This is a common practice already.
-- System Information:
Debian Release: squeeze/sid
APT prefers unstable
APT policy: (500, 'unstable'), (1, 'experimental')
Architecture: i386 (i686)
Kernel: Linux 2.6.32-trunk-486
Locale: LANG=it_IT.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=it_IT.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Index: best-pkging-practices.dbk
===================================================================
--- best-pkging-practices.dbk (revisione 7068)
+++ best-pkging-practices.dbk (copia locale)
@@ -343,6 +343,13 @@
this about this particular package, if you have information related to both).
-->
</itemizedlist>
+<para>
+If the package is a meta-package (a package which depends on one or more
+packages) or a transitional package (a package provided to ease upgrades to
+packages with a different name), you should clearly state so identifying
+what kind of package it belongs, that way users are given the chance to remove
+potential useless packages without losing any functionality.
+</para>
</section>
<section id="bpp-upstream-info">
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