This is an automated email from the git hooks/post-receive script. guillem pushed a commit to branch main in repository dpkg.
View the commit online: https://git.dpkg.org/cgit/dpkg/dpkg.git/commit/?id=becfa57b360f0ba61b05ec6f0eb11f7a37323dea commit becfa57b360f0ba61b05ec6f0eb11f7a37323dea Author: Guillem Jover <[email protected]> AuthorDate: Sun Apr 3 20:45:59 2022 +0200 man: Expand Protected and Essential field use cases Closes: #1008780 --- man/deb-control.pod | 7 +++++-- man/dpkg.pod | 16 ++++++++++------ 2 files changed, 15 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-) diff --git a/man/deb-control.pod b/man/deb-control.pod index 9f1de6a21..e5ec89abd 100644 --- a/man/deb-control.pod +++ b/man/deb-control.pod @@ -121,7 +121,8 @@ The algorithm to compute the size is described in L<deb-substvars(5)>. =item B<Protected:> B<yes>|B<no> This field is usually only needed when the answer is B<yes>. -It denotes a package that is required for proper booting of the system. +It denotes a package that is required mostly for proper booting of the system +or used for custom system-local meta-packages. L<dpkg(1)> or any other installation tool will not allow a B<Protected> package to be removed (at least not without using one of the force options). @@ -130,7 +131,9 @@ Supported since dpkg 1.20.1. =item B<Essential:> B<yes>|B<no> This field is usually only needed when the answer is B<yes>. -It denotes a package that is required for proper operation of the system. +It denotes a package that is required for the packaging system, for +proper operation of the system in general or during boot (although the latter +should be converted to B<Protected> field instead). L<dpkg(1)> or any other installation tool will not allow an B<Essential> package to be removed (at least not without using one of the force options). diff --git a/man/dpkg.pod b/man/dpkg.pod index e6abd3d3f..f09b7c0d1 100644 --- a/man/dpkg.pod +++ b/man/dpkg.pod @@ -700,14 +700,18 @@ remain on the system, which will then be forgotten by B<dpkg>. B<remove-protected>: Remove, even if the package is considered protected (since dpkg 1.20.1). -Protected packages contain mostly important system boot infrastructure. -Removing them might cause the whole system to be unable to boot, so use -with caution. +Protected packages contain mostly important system boot infrastructure or +are used for custom system-local meta-packages. +Removing them might cause the whole system to be unable to boot or lose +required functionality to operate, so use with caution. B<remove-essential>: -Remove, even if the package is considered essential. Essential -packages contain mostly very basic Unix commands. Removing them might -cause the whole system to stop working, so use with caution. +Remove, even if the package is considered essential. +Essential packages contain mostly very basic Unix commands, required for +the packaging system, for the operation of the system in general or during +boot (although the latter should be converted to protected packages instead). +Removing them might cause the whole system to stop working, +so use with caution. B<depends>: Turn all dependency problems into warnings. -- Dpkg.Org's dpkg
