This is the outcome of the week-long discussion that started at https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-gnulib/2026-07/msg00015.html
The coreutils package should include hints (for distributions) about how to package coreutils, when these hints are not trivial.
>From f8862214edc83b0674c22ba0a3f138facc094f9f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Bruno Haible <[email protected]> Date: Thu, 23 Jul 2026 21:57:36 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 2/2] maint: Document packaging hints for distributions * PACKAGING: New file. * Makefile.am (EXTRA_DIST): Add it. --- Makefile.am | 1 + PACKAGING | 19 +++++++++++++++++++ 2 files changed, 20 insertions(+) create mode 100644 PACKAGING diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am index 2ea7ab936..19675a387 100644 --- a/Makefile.am +++ b/Makefile.am @@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ EXTRA_DIST = \ .version \ .vg-suppressions \ DEPENDENCIES \ + PACKAGING \ README-install \ THANKS.in \ THANKS-to-translators \ diff --git a/PACKAGING b/PACKAGING new file mode 100644 index 000000000..f7af607b7 --- /dev/null +++ b/PACKAGING @@ -0,0 +1,19 @@ +Packaging hints for binary package distributors +=============================================== + +Although the source of the GNU coreutils package comes as a single package, +we recommend that for distributions that support systemd, in binary packages +the installed files be split into two packages: + + coreutils + Contents: Programs for most purposes. + Audience: Normal users, programmers, system administrators. + Dependencies: no libsystemd. + + coreutils-multiuser + Contents: Programs for multi-user functionality, namely + 'who', 'users', 'pinky', and optionally 'uptime'. + Audience: System administrators. + Dependencies: requires libsystemd. + +Reference: https://bugs.debian.org/1142500 -- 2.53.0
