Bug#1118763: debian-policy: Don't mention doc-base any more
Source: debian-policy
Version: 4.7.2.0
This is a follow-up to https://bugs.debian.org/910783 which downgraded
doc-base to a "may" with version 4.4.1.0 in 2019. However, Lintian
still emits an info warning about the lack of doc-base registration.
[1]. doc-base was originally recommended in version 3.6.2 in 2005. [2]
[3]
I believe that several Debian Developers are aware of doc-base, either
because it is mentioned in Debian Policy, or because of the Lintian
info tag, or because the doc-base files are existing in packages or in
packaging templates. I suspect that a typical Debian user who does not
work on .deb packages would be unaware of doc-base. Despite its
prevalence in Debian packages, I am guessing that few Debian
Developers have ever actually **used** doc-base.
doc-base's client list [3] claims that yelp and khelpcenter support
doc-base. yelp hasn't supported doc-base since 2009 (as mentioned in
yelp's debian/changelog). It does not appear that khelpcenter does
either. All the other clients have very low popcon. The highest is
dwww with 427 reported installs.
The about section [4] for doc-base is interesting. doc-base was
created in 1998. If I interpret it correctly, it was created because
Debian Developers couldn't agree on a single way to view HTML
documentation. There were 4 suggested systems (which are the 4 clients
other than yelp & khelpcenter). doc-base was created so that Debian
packaged docs could be registered in all 4 of those systems.
This frankly doesn't feel like the way almost anyone reads HTML system docs now.
The inclusion of doc-base in Debian Policy forces proactive Debian
contributors to spend time writing debian/*doc-base files. If those
files aren't really being used, this is a waste of space and a waste
of Debian contributor time and effort.
Therefore, I recommend that we stop mentioning doc-base in Debian
Policy, allowing the Lintian info tag to be removed. Practically, I'd
imagine if that happened, a Lintian warning might be added to remove
doc-base files since doc-base would no longer be a Debian project
goal.
[1] https://lintian.debian.org/tags/possible-documentation-but-no-doc-base-registration.html
[2] https://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/upgrading-checklist.html
[3] https://bugs.debian.org/169399
[3] https://wiki.debian.org/doc-base#doc-base_clients
[4] https://wiki.debian.org/doc-base#Debian_doc-base_Manual
Thank you,
Jeremy Bícha
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