Bug#833401: debian-policy: virtual packages: dbus-session-bus, dbus-default-session-bus
Package: debian-policy
Severity: wishlist
X-Debbugs-Cc: debian-devel@lists.debian.org
I propose two new virtual packages:
dbus-session-bus: anything providing the D-Bus well-known session bus
for user login sessions
dbus-default-session-bus: Debian's preferred implementation of
dbus-session-bus
Currently, many packages that require a D-Bus session bus express that
dependency by depending on dbus-x11. Many more packages rely on a session
bus without an explicit dependency. I would like to deprecate dbus-x11
(which provides a D-Bus session bus per X11 session to that X11 session)
in favour of dbus-user-session (which provides a D-Bus session bus per
uid, shared by all concurrent PAM sessions), while keeping dbus-x11
supported as a non-preferred implementation.
>From discussion in the related MBF plan
<https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2016/07/msg00484.html>, I am led
to believe that the preferred way to do this is with two virtual packages,
analogous to mail-transport-agent and default-mta.
dbus-session bus would be provided by dbus-x11, dbus-user-session, and
possibly something kdbus-related in future. The intended semantics are:
programs in at least graphical login sessions can rely on seeing the
$DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS environment variable, the $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/bus
Unix socket, or some other way to discover a session bus that is supported
by all the major D-Bus client libraries.
dbus-default-session-bus would be provided by exactly one package per suite
that is the preferred implementation, currently dbus-user-session.
Programs and desktop environments that require a D-Bus session bus and cannot
work without one should generally declare:
Depends: dbus-default-session-bus | dbus-session-bus
Programs with weaker dependencies can use a Recommends or a Suggests.
Other options
=============
If this is not a best-practice use of virtual packages, the other options that
I am aware of are:
* Add a real (non-virtual) empty package dbus-session-bus built by src:dbus,
with Depends: dbus-user-session | dbus-x11 (initially). Other packages
depend on dbus-session-bus.
(Pro: simpler dependency graph. Con: requires NEW queue.)
* Add a virtual package dbus-session-bus, and a real (non-virtual) package
dbus-default-session-bus built by src:dbus.
(Pro: avoids ambiguity if apt is configured to see more than one suite.
Con: requires NEW queue.)
* Give packages a direct Depends: dbus-user-session | dbus-x11, and do
another MBF if we decide post-stretch that we should actually be
preferring a third implementation, kdbus-session-bus or something.
(Pro: no proliferation of package names. Con: possible MBF in future.)
* MBF asking applications to stop depending on dbus-x11, and just
assume that any reasonable desktop environment will pull in
dbus-user-session | dbus-x11 anyway, in the same way that applications
are not expected to depend on an X11 server.
(Pro: simplest possible dependency graph. Con: undeclared dependency.)
Regards,
S
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