hi, [i'm not sure if this has been resolved, lart me if you like.]
my proposal to resolve big Packages.gz is through package pool system. add 36 or so new debian package, namely, [a-zA-Z0-1]-packages-gz_date_all.deb contents of each is quite obvious. ;-) and a virtual unstable-packages-gz depends on all of them. finished. apt-get update should deal with it. 1) as default, install packages-gz.deb, and finished. (against some policy ...) 2) otherwise, let user to choose from, that is a ui design... ;-) release managment could just ;-) upload a woody-packages-gz_test-1_all.deb episode I finished. episode II involves the package pool deletion algorithms. a package should only be deleted when no *-packages-gz debs reference it. my 2'c thanks for bear with me ;-) zw