Ian Jackson wrote: > tl/dr: would this be wrong > Package: libpam-elogind > Provides: libpam-systemd > and should there be a Conflicts too ?
Please don't, no, for multiple reasons. First, various packages followed the widely offered advice of using libpam-systemd as the correct package to depend on if you need systemd services, as it incorporated the appropriate alternatives on systemd-sysv and systemd-shim. So packages depending on libpam-systemd may depend on more aspects of systemd than just the pam module. Second, based on experiences with systemd-shim, I would expect that elogind will likely be *mostly* compatible with systemd's services, but not necessarily perfectly compatible, especially when it comes to current features. Using a Provides would make it more difficult for packages to handle such compatibility issues. Please instead just continue providing a separate pam module, please *conflict* with libpam-systemd to avoid having debugging adventures involving one interfering with the other, and please work with packages that depend on libpam-systemd to add appropriate alternatives like libpam-systemd | libpam-elogind if and *only* if they work with both.
