Re: Python Policy Updates
* Stefano Rivera <stefanor@debian.org>, 2011-03-24, 15:35:
I see we still suggest ${python:Provides}. I was encouraged in
#debian-python to never use these unless there's an existing
dependency on a versioned package name.
Correctly using python Provides is expensive. Here's why:
“Provides: python2.X-eggs” is supposed to mean “this package provides
module ‘eggs’ that can be imported with python2.X”. But you can claim
that only if the package depends on the python2.X versions of all other
modules it requires, even if some of them are arch:all! (The policy
doesn't explain this...) Such dependencies are annoying for users and
makes transitions harder.
Therefore, they should be avoided and used only if necessary.
Now, of course, most packages use python Provides wrongly, so it become
essentially meaningless. I will leave as an exercise to the reader to
check how many packages using “Provides: ${python:Provides}” has their
dependencies correct.
--
Jakub Wilk
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