Bill Mitchell writes ("Re: Release management and package announcements"):
> Ian Jackson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said:
> > > Somehow the FTP site maintainer's programs also need to know which
> > > section (subdirectory) the files should go in. I suggest that this
> > > information be provided by the `overrides' file on the FTP site, which
> > > is already used by the npdpkg program which generates the Packages
> > > files.
> > >
> > > Agreed. I don't think the location should be decided by individual
> > > package maintainers, though they will be free to suggest a location.
> >
> > The Section field from the control file can be used for this.
>
> I agree also that this should be decided centrally, but disagree about
> using the SECTION field for a maintainer's recommendations. If we
> do that, "dpkg --info" and "dpkg --status" will give misleading
> information to users.
>
> If the SECTION field is not going to reliably contain the section name
> where the package is placed, it should be eliminated.
The (optional) Section information has to be there so that when a
package is installed but the user doesn't download a new Packages file
they still see the package in the right place in dselect.
Information from the Packages file(s) will take precedence, if there
is any, in dselect. I could arrange for dpkg --status to use the
Packages file(s)' info if available, but I think that would be more
misleading.
Ian.
