On Fri, Mar 21, 2008, [email protected] wrote:
> Package: unixodbc
> Version: 2.2.11-16
> Severity: wishlist
>
> Mention what OBDC means somewhere in the Description
I suppose technically this is entitled to be more than wishlist, in
that the package description breaks a "should" in Debian Policy 3.4:
it fails to describe what a unixodbc is or why anyone might want to
install one. (UNIX Objective Design By Contract? Or maybe United
Nations International X-ray Observatory Dynamic Brake Control?)
On the other hand, while it may not be obvious from the name, unixodbc
does live in "libs", where there's a bit more of a presumption that
"if you don't know then you don't need to know".
The package description is a strange mix of two extremes - either
abbreviated to the point of incoherence ("tools libraries") or
seemingly redundant ("this package contains the contents of the
unixodbc package"). The -dev package description would have a far
better justification for assuming that its readers know what a
unixodbc is (since they're thinking of programming one); but that
package description *does* explain it.
Tentative patch attached.
--
JBR
Ankh kak! (Ancient Egyptian blessing)
diff -ru unixodbc-2.2.14p2.pristine/debian/control unixodbc-2.2.14p2/debian/control
--- unixodbc-2.2.14p2.pristine/debian/control 2011-02-26 23:55:52.000000000 +0000
+++ unixodbc-2.2.14p2/debian/control 2011-02-27 00:41:16.236925394 +0000
@@ -14,13 +14,13 @@
Depends: ${shlibs:Depends}, ${misc:Depends}
Suggests: libmyodbc, odbc-postgresql, tdsodbc, unixodbc-bin
Conflicts: unixodbc-bin (<< 2.2.4-1)
-Description: ODBC tools libraries
- Binaries and libraries from the unixODBC package.
- COMPONENTS:
- .
- libodbc.so.1 (ODBC Driver Manager)
- libodbctxt.so (driver for Text files)
- isql (cmd line tool... batch & interactive SQL)
+Description: Open Database Connectivity - core components
+ The Unix ODBC project provides a standard abstraction layer for portable
+ database access.
+ .
+ This package provides the main ODBC Driver Manager, libodbc.so.1; the
+ textfile driver, libodbctxt.so; and a command line tool for making SQL
+ queries, isql. Graphical tools are in unixodbc-bin.
Package: unixodbc-dev
Architecture: any
@@ -32,23 +32,26 @@
libltdl3-dev, ${misc:Depends}
Suggests: libqt3-mt-dev
Conflicts: libiodbc2-dev, remembrance-agent (<< 2.11-4)
-Description: ODBC libraries for UNIX (development files)
+Description: Open Database Connectivity - development files
+ The Unix ODBC project provides a standard abstraction layer for portable
+ database access.
+ .
This package contains the development files (headers and libraries) for
- unixODBC, an implementation of the Open DataBase Connectivity interface
- for Unix systems. You should not need to install this package unless
- you intend to develop C language applications which use ODBC, or to
- compile ODBC-using applications from source.
+ developing or compiling ODBC-using applications.
Package: unixodbc-bin
Architecture: any
Section: x11
Depends: ${shlibs:Depends}, libodbcinstq1c2, ${misc:Depends}
-Description: Graphical tools for ODBC management and browsing
- This package contains three graphical applications for use with
- unixODBC, the Open DataBase Connectivity suite: ODBCConfig, a graphical
- configuration tool for managing database drivers and access to
- individual databases; DataManager, a simple browser and query tool for
- ODBC databases; and odbctest, a tool for testing the ODBC API itself.
+Description: Open Database Connectivity - graphical DBM tools
+ The Unix ODBC project provides a standard abstraction layer for portable
+ database access.
+ .
+ This package contains three graphical applications for use with unixODBC:
+ ODBCConfig, a graphical configuration tool for managing database drivers
+ and access to individual databases; DataManager, a simple browser and
+ query tool for ODBC databases; and odbctest, a tool for testing the ODBC
+ API itself.
Package: libodbcinstq1c2
Architecture: any
@@ -56,8 +59,11 @@
Depends: ${shlibs:Depends}, ${misc:Depends}
Conflicts: unixodbc (<< 2.2.4-1), libodbcinstq1
Replaces: unixodbc (<< 2.2.4-1), libodbcinstq1
-Description: Qt-based ODBC configuration library
- This package contains the libodbcinstQ library, a library used by some
+Description: Open Database Connectivity - Qt-based configuration library
+ The Unix ODBC project provides a standard abstraction layer for portable
+ database access.
+ .
+ This package contains the libodbcinstQ library, which is used by some
Qt-based GUI configuration tools for managing ODBC drivers and ODBC DSNs.
Package: odbcinst1debian2
@@ -66,13 +72,14 @@
Depends: ${shlibs:Depends}, ${misc:Depends}, odbcinst
Replaces: unixodbc (<< 2.1.1-2)
Conflicts: odbcinst1, odbcinst1debian1
-Description: Support library for accessing odbc ini files
- This package contains the libodbcinst library from unixodbc, a library
- used by ODBC drivers for reading their configuration settings from
- /etc/odbc.ini and ~/.odbc.ini. It is useful to provide this in a
- stand-alone package, so that all ODBC drivers in Debian can use a
- consistent ini library, regardless of whether applications are built
- with iodbc or unixodbc.
+Description: Open Database Connectivity - ini file support library
+ The Unix ODBC project provides a standard abstraction layer for portable
+ database access.
+ .
+ This package contains the libodbcinst library, which allows ODBC drivers
+ to read configuration settings from /etc/odbc.ini and ~/.odbc.ini. As a
+ stand-alone library, it can be used by all packaged ODBC drivers
+ regardless of whether applications are built with iodbc or unixodbc.
.
Also contained in this package are the driver setup plugins, which
describe the features supported by individual ODBC drivers.
@@ -83,6 +90,9 @@
Depends: ${shlibs:Depends}, ${misc:Depends}
Replaces: unixodbc (<< 2.1.1-2), odbcinst1debian1 (<< 2.2.11-20), odbcinst1
Conflicts: odbcinst1
-Description: Helper program for accessing odbc ini files
+Description: Open Database Connectivity - ini file support utility
+ The Unix ODBC project provides a standard abstraction layer for portable
+ database access.
+ .
This package contains the odbcinst helper tool, which allows ODBC driver
packages to install their own driver settings.
