Bug#682347: mark 'editor' virtual package name as obsolete

[Paride Legovini <pl@ninthfloor.org>]

On Fri, 25 Aug 2017 10:09:34 +0200 Jeroen Dekkers <jeroen@dekkers.ch> wrote:
> On Thu, 24 Aug 2017 19:16:53 +0200,
> Christoph Berg wrote:
> > 
> > Re: Russ Allbery 2017-08-24 <[🔎] 87efs1lyc7.fsf@hope.eyrie.org>
> > > Oh, thank you!  For some reason, apt-cache rdepends didn't show any of
> > > those packages.  All of them except dnsvi are Suggests, which basically
> > > doesn't accomplish anything.
> > > 
> > > Copying myon on this message as maintainer of dnsvi, which has a
> > > dependency on "vim | editor".  Christoph, we're proposing finally removing
> > > the editor virtual package completely, with the patch included here:
> > 
> > Thanks for the notice. I'm quite surprised that my dnsvi seems to be
> > the only package in Debian that requires a text editor. Given that our
> > base doesn't really include one, and getting dependencies Just Right
> > is among the things that Debian is really good at, dropping the
> > existing "editor" virtual package seems Just Wrong to me.
> 
> Nano is priority important which means it will be installed by default
> and someone who explicitly uninstalls nano will probably also install
> another editor. I doubt a dependency on editor will make any
> difference in practice.

I agree, I see no advantage in adding a default-editor: if we have to
add complexity then it's better to just keep the virtual package.

I maintain 'vis', which Provides 'editor', and I prepared a new version
where this is not done anymore, but I still have to publish it. Is this
issue to be considered as settled? I see that 'nano' already dropped its
Provides line, so I guess it is.

Paride