Re: Debian Python Policy [draft]
Jim Penny wrote:
> Why? Could you better explain your reasoning here?
> On the face of it, it certainly seems that python-1.5 ought to be
> able to provide python-api-1.5.
It breaks dependencies. We've been through this before but I'll explain
it again. Here's a dependency graph:
/--------------------------------------------\
spam -- > python (2.1)
\---> python-eggs ---> python-api-2.1 ---/
The spam program is portable between Python versions. Now, if we
upgrade python to 2.2 and have a python-2.1 package that provides
python-api-2.1 we have the following broken dependency graph:
/-------------------------------------------> python (2.2)
spam --
\---> python-eggs ---> python-api-2.1 ---> python-2.1
We can try to fix this by putting the version in the module package
names as well (this is what Donovan and other people have been
suggesting). First we have:
/-------------------------------------> python ---\
spam -- > python-2.1
\---> python-eggs ---> python-eggs-2.1 -----------/
The python is a small package to create a link from /usr/bin/python2.2
to /usr/bin/python. python-eggs is a dummy package for dependencies
(similar to what is done for GCC). When we upgrade Python to 2.2 we
have:
/-------------------------------------> python ---> python-2.2
spam --
\---> python-eggs ---> python-eggs-2.1 -----------> python-2.1
The dependencies are still broken. We could have:
/------------------------------------------------\
spam -- > python-2.1
\--------------------> python-eggs-2.1 ----------/
That makes spam dependent on the version of Python installed. Perhaps
I'm missing some detail of Donovan's plan.
Neil
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