Bug#759260: [PATCH v2] Remove priority "extra", make all corresponding packages priority "optional"

[Gerrit Pape <pape@dbnbgs.smarden.org>]

Hi,

further discussion on this topic drifted away to broader or other
topics, as I read it.  There were followups in favor of this change, and
also an objection early in the discussion.

I still think applying this change to the policy brings us forward in
making the process how dependencies across priorities are handled much
more transparent and so more easy to control. And I'd like to either see
it accepted, or want to close the issue again.

So I hereby ask for seconds to support this patch, or for your objection
with reasoning.

Regards, Gerrit.


On Mon, Aug 25, 2014 at 03:43:02PM +0000, Gerrit Pape wrote:
> All packages that currently are of priority "extra" shall be changed to
> priority "optional" for the reasons outlined in message #35 to this
> report
> 
>  https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=758234#35
> 
> If technically feasible, and I think so, the transition shall be done
> through ftpmaster's override file, which will cause lintian warnings
> for affected packages so that the maintainers can adapt the packages'
> control files gradually.
> 
> ---
> On Sat, Aug 23, 2014 at 09:59:09PM +0100, Simon McVittie wrote:
> > On 23/08/14 17:54, Gerrit Pape wrote:
> > > --- a/policy.sgml
> > > +++ b/policy.sgml
> > > @@ -855,15 +855,6 @@ zope.
> > >             distribution, and many applications. Note that
> > >             optional packages should not conflict with each other.
> 
> > That last sentence is not feasible if the 'extra' priority is
> > abolished, and should also be deleted by the patch.
> 
> Yes, obviously, thanks for spotting this.  Here's v2 of the patch with
> this sentence removed too.
> 
> > There might also be other mentions of 'extra' vs. the other priorities
> > (packages in extra may conflict with other packages in the same suite,
> > but higher priorities are expected to be fully installable) elsewhere
> > in Policy, which should also be amended.
> 
> I thoroughly searched policy.sgml for "extra", "optional", "priorities",
> "priority" (ignore-case), and only found the example included in the
> patch.
> 
> If further discussion doesn't happen or doesn't suggest otherwise, I
> still plan to call for seconds in about a week.
> 
> Regards, Gerrit.
> 
> 
>  policy.sgml | 20 +++++---------------
>  1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 15 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/policy.sgml b/policy.sgml
> index 6eac491..628a5c9 100644
> --- a/policy.sgml
> +++ b/policy.sgml
> @@ -852,17 +852,7 @@ zope.
>  		install if you didn't know what it was and don't have
>  		specialized requirements. This is a much larger system
>  		and includes the X Window System, a full TeX
> -		distribution, and many applications. Note that
> -		optional packages should not conflict with each other.
> -	    </item>
> -	    <tag><tt>extra</tt></tag>
> -	    <item>
> -		This contains all packages that conflict with others
> -		with required, important, standard or optional
> -		priorities, or are only likely to be useful if you
> -		already know what they are or have specialized
> -		requirements (such as packages containing only detached
> -		debugging symbols).
> +		distribution, and many applications.
>  	    </item>
>  	  </taglist>
>  	</p>
> @@ -3660,10 +3650,10 @@ Files:
>  	    size, section and priority and the filename.  For example:
>  	    <example>
>  Files:
> - 4c31ab7bfc40d3cf49d7811987390357 1428 text extra example_1.2-1.dsc
> - c6f698f19f2a2aa07dbb9bbda90a2754 571925 text extra example_1.2.orig.tar.gz
> - 938512f08422f3509ff36f125f5873ba 6220 text extra example_1.2-1.diff.gz
> - 7c98fe853b3bbb47a00e5cd129b6cb56 703542 text extra example_1.2-1_i386.deb
> + 4c31ab7bfc40d3cf49d7811987390357 1428 text optional example_1.2-1.dsc
> + c6f698f19f2a2aa07dbb9bbda90a2754 571925 text optional example_1.2.orig.tar.gz
> + 938512f08422f3509ff36f125f5873ba 6220 text optional example_1.2-1.diff.gz
> + 7c98fe853b3bbb47a00e5cd129b6cb56 703542 text optional example_1.2-1_i386.deb
>  	    </example>
>  	    The <qref id="f-Section">section</qref>
>  	    and <qref id="f-Priority">priority</qref> are the values of
> -- 
> 2.1.0
> 
> 
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