Bug#1074014: encode mandatory merged-/usr into policy

[Helmut Grohne <helmut@subdivi.de>]

Hi,

On Fri, Jun 21, 2024 at 08:27:57PM +0200, Helmut Grohne wrote:
> given the progress we have made with /usr-move and DEP17, I think it is
> time to consider encoding the changes into policy. As of this writing,
> there are 216 source packages in unstable that still install into
> aliased locations and their number has been dropping since a while. All
> but very few packages have bug reports of important severity and will
> have their severity upgraded to serious on August 6th.

118 source packages as of this writing.

I think we have quite positive feedback from both policy editors and
others. We have a proposed wording and we have seconds from
 * Chris Hofstaedtler
 * Holger Levsen
 * Jochen Sprickerhof
 * Luca Boccassi
 * Michael Biebl

I am happy to move forward with or without Russ' proposed addition
however you see fit and generally think it is good advice:

| Since paths either with or without /usr are supported on Debian
| systems, maintainers of non-native packages are encouraged to follow
| the same conventions as the upstream package when referencing absolute
| paths.  There is no need to change upstream code from, for example,
| /bin to /usr/bin (or from /usr/bin to /bin) when packaging for Debian.

Can a policy editor follow up with instructions on where we are (from a
policy procedures point of view) and what needs to be done to move this
proposal forward?

Thanks

Helmut