Package: debian-policy Version: 3.9.8.0 Severity: wishlist Hello,
I just filed #832650 (insufficient Depends of systemd 230-7), and also had several similar package issues reported in earlier times. I just realized that debian-policy section "3.5 Dependencies" perhaps is insufficiently worded: It does not mention e.g. "versioning" of a dependency (this may be intentional after all, since this section may want to be a more general, short/concise statement that dependencies simply need to be "correct", regardless of whether this then applies to specific dependency information stuff such as version values, etc.). One additional aspect here (which may also need mentioning via explaining) is the question of whether (or: how strongly) reliability of these dependency requirements also apply to the use case of inter-distro-version upgrading (i.e., upgrading from a rather old distro base). A key phrase which may be missing from that section (especially near "Every package must specify the dependency information") is "require a sufficiently fully qualified dependency", to "always guarantee successful operation of the depender after installation or upgrades". Worded differently, perhaps a good form is "require dependencies stated in sufficiently fully precisely qualified information form (package name, version level, etc.), to achieve always guaranteeing successful operation of the depender after whichever installation or upgrade occurs". [or "after any installation or upgrade"] Policy demands here ought to be clarified a bit I believe (without this section then ending up overly verbose, of course), in order to achieve maximally precisely stating what is or is not the requirement that package maintenance efforts are expected to meet. Thanks, Andreas Mohr