Steve M. Robbins wrote: > This is due to Debian Policy 2.5: > > Packages must not depend on packages with lower priority values > (excluding build-time dependencies). In order to ensure this, the > priorities of one or more packages may need to be adjusted. > > Why is this the policy? Why does it matter? Surely installing all > the "important" packages will pull in their dependencies regardless of > the depended-upon package's priority.
I've been wondering for some time if this policy isn't outdated and should maybe be relaxed, at least for library packages. I suspect the origin of the policy is that in olden days tools like debootstrap and debian-cd relied exclusively on priority to get the contents of the base system correct. However, for at least the last three releases those tools have full dependency resolution support and they will correctly pull in any dependencies regardless of priority. The current policy results in some busy-work for FTP masters who need to adjust priorities to comply with this policy. As there is no longer any real necessity to have the priorities correct at all times, this is mostly left to the final stages of release preparation (unless BRs are filed). It also frequently results in outdated (ABI versions of) libs being included in base installs when no package of high prio depends on a lib anymore but the lib's prio has not yet been adjusted downwards. Maybe we should consider changing the default prio for all library packages to optional or lower, except for specific cases (e.g. libc) where the lib itself can actually be considered part of the core system. It's quite possible I'm missing reasons for the existing policy. Maybe there are still tools or procedures that rely on matching priorities, though I'm not aware of any and I've never heard of anything breaking because of the prio mismatches we currently frequently have. Something to consider for Squeeze + 1? Cheers, FJP -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-devel-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/201007181941.12294.elen...@planet.nl
