Bug#225947: apt-utils: please support architecture-specific extra overrides

[Anthony Towns <aj@azure.humbug.org.au>]

Package: apt-utils
Version: 0.5.14
Severity: wishlist

Hi,

Please add support for architecture specific extra overrides to
apt-ftparchive, to allow writing, eg:

    abiword/i386       Task    desktop
    abiword-gnome/i386 Task    desktop

This support would be useful in two areas in particular. The first is for
packages whose Priority should be different on different architectures, eg
if i386 and hppa have different default versions of gcc, then different
gcc-X.Y packages should have Priority: standard on each architecture. The
second is for debootstrap, which would like to be able to use a "Base: yes"
field to determine which packages are in base, but needs to have different
packages included on different architectures.

The syntax above is just a suggestion, of course. It makes most sense to me
just to extend the syntax of extra overrides rather than creating a new file,
but either way would seem fine.

I tried implementing this at one point, but got lost in a maze of twisty
classes, all different. :(

Hope that all makes sense.

Cheers,
aj