Hi! On Thu, 2025-10-02 at 21:03:14 +0000, Nilesh Patra wrote: > On 2025-10-02 23:53, Sean Whitton wrote: > > On Thu 02 Oct 2025 at 04:38pm +02, Guillem Jover wrote: > > > Also, not sure whether to make it explicit as in "not specified in any > > > of the stanzas" but perhaps that's unnecessary. > > Guillem, if a source package has no Priority field in the source stanza > and has binary packages `foo` and `bar`; let's say `foo` has "Priority: > Required" in its binary stanza, and `bar` omits this field altogether. > In such case, dpkg will default to "Priority: Optional" for `bar` and > "Priority: Required" shall be chosen for `foo` right?
Yes. A binary package will get the Priority field first from an explicit Priority field in a binary package stanza, otherwise it is inherited from an explicit field in the source package stanza, and otherwise it uses the new "optional" default. > In that case the wording "not specified in any of the stanzas" for dpkg > to default to "Priority: Optional" > may sound a little bit confusing. It may lead to someone thinking for > the above case that `bar` may _not_ be > chosen with "Priority: Optional" (as `foo` specifies this field)? Sorry, I meant that phrasing as to convey what I meant not what should appear as-is in policy (should have made that clear). > I've tried to reword this in a less confusing way. Please take a look > below, and just tell me to fix it > further if it still isn't looking good and I'll revise it. Thanks, your wording looks indeed more clear. :) > diff --git a/policy/ch-archive.rst b/policy/ch-archive.rst > index 302dc8d..764ef76 100644 > --- a/policy/ch-archive.rst > +++ b/policy/ch-archive.rst > @@ -376,11 +376,16 @@ Priorities > ---------- > > Each package must have a *priority* value, which is set in the metadata > -for the Debian archive and is also included in the package's control > -files (see :ref:`s-f-Priority`). This information is used > +for the Debian archive and is also included in the package's binary > +control files (see :ref:`s-f-Priority`). This information is used > to control which packages are included in standard or minimal Debian > installations. Re-reading the change, I'm not sure this change is correct. The priority also appears in the .changes and .dsc files. > +Starting with dpkg version 1.22.13, the *Priority* of a binary package is > +set to ``optional`` unless specified otherwise in the source or binary > stanzas Perhaps "in the source or its binary stanza"? > +in the source package template control file. > +Therefore, explicitly specifying *Priority* as ``optional`` may be omitted. > + > Most Debian packages will have a priority of ``optional``. Priority > levels other than ``optional`` are only used for packages that should be > included by default in a standard installation of Debian. Thanks, Guillem
