On Sat, May 02, 2015 at 09:07:56AM -0400, James McCoy wrote: > On Sat, May 02, 2015 at 01:46:25PM +0200, David Kalnischkies wrote: > > (aka: I don't see why a debug > > package has to depend on the package it provides symbols for at all. If > > any the relation should be 'Enhances'…). > > The intention is to ensure the debug symbols came from the same build as > the binary packages which are being enhanced. Enhances doesn't provide > that guarantee since it's a purely aesthetic relationship. The
Why? Is something broken by the fact that you have a -dbg(sym) package installed, but not the package the debug symbols are for, or does anything break by having an outdated -dbg(sym) package – appart from your ability to make use of the symbols files? -data packages do not depend on their users even through they are useless without them. -doc packages do not depend on the things they document even through having an outdated version means stuff which is documented to work doesn't (which could be quite dangerous). Note also that the relation you are trying to express is stronger than can be expressed currently as Provides can satisfy such a relation (curtesy of versioned provides being supported by dpkg now), while they are hardly satisfying the intention. I think this Depends is only "needed" because most manual debug packages have it, so by induction, the automatic ones "need" it, too. Oh, and I would prefer teaching our packages managers to deal with enhances better, rather than declaring them "purely aesthetic" forever… There is nothing wrong with teaching them to keep installed (reverse) enhance relations satisfied, much like they do for recommends (and should for suggests) for example. Keeping debug packages autoinstalled, but tagged as non-garbage as long as the package they enhance is installed would be fun, too. There are countless more plans for great things. Unfortuently manpower is too limited to have them all done at once. I hope we can get at least some for stretch… Best regards David Kalnischkies
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