Hello,I call for votes on the below ballot. The vote is open for 7 days, or until the outcome is beyond doubt.
Regards, MatthewIn Bug #1084924, the Technical Committee was asked about a mass bug filing that aimed to remove all dependencies (except Provides: and Conflicts:) upon the system-log-daemon virtual package. Whilst the wording of policy in this area is unclear, the Technical Committee notes that long-standing practice in this area as reflected by policy was that packages could declare appropriate dependencies upon the system-log-daemon virtual package. The Technical Committee also acknowledges that on systemd systems, journald can serve the purpose of system-log-daemon, but that systemd also supports installing a separate system-log-daemon.
A) The Technical Committee affirms that it is reasonable for a package to declare any suitable dependency upon the system-log-daemon virtual package. As journald can serve as system-log-daemon either alone or alongside a separate system-log-daemon, this should be expressed in the systemd packaging, by shipping a systemd-journald-is-syslog dummy package or some other suitable mechanism. The Technical Committee suggests that Policy be updated to clarify this, and that maintainers who removed such dependencies as a result of the mass bug filing consider restoring them.
B) The Technical Committee notes that logging may be provided by a container runtime, or by journald (by itself or in concert with a separate system-log-daemon), and that it is no longer practical to express the availability or otherwise of a logging daemon via package dependencies. Therefore, the Technical Committee agrees that packages should now only declare Provides: and Conflicts: relationships with the system-log-daemon virtual package. The Technical Committee suggests that Policy be update to reflect this change.
C) The Technical Committee resolves that this is a de facto attempt to change Policy, and that the Policy process should be used to consider whether to change Policy relating to system-log-daemon from the status quo of packages being able to declare any reasonable dependency upon system-log-daemon to the state where only Provides: and Conflicts: may be used. Until that process is concluded, dependencies upon the system-log-daemon should not be removed (unless they are incorrect on the merits of an individual case).
D) The Technical Committee notes that logging daemons can now co-exist with each other. Therefore, they should stop conflicting with one another, and systemd-sysv should now Provides: system-log-daemon. Given this change, packages can and should again issue dependencies on system-log-daemon where deemed appropriate by their maintainers. The Technical Committee suggests that Policy be updated to reflect this change.
N) None of the above / Further Discussion.
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