Re: Debian packages (maybe stupid) question

[bruce@pixar.com (Bruce Perens)]

> should any package avoid to provide a file that any other package
> might provide

In general, yes.

> will the package installation tools tolerate such duplicates

If the package maintainer sets a flag "Replaces: other-package-name" in
the package header, it will allow one or more files of the other package
to be replaced.

> what about marking the importance of some
> files in the package, like `Essential'

We mark _packages_ "Essential" now. We don't do this with file granularity
in general, although there have been experiments in this direction.

> And do the pakages support alternate names for files?

Not in the way you describe. It would be the package maintainer's
responsibility to compress man pages (which is something we might do).

> Are these dumb ideas, or may it be feasible?

Please read the package developer's documentation and take a good look
at the "dpkg" program and the scripts used to build a package. We have
addressed some of the issues you are concerned with.

	Thanks

	Bruce Perens
--
Pixar Animation Studios: Reality is not our business.
Pixar's "Toy Story" $184.79M domestic, $66M overseas and counting.