On Mon, May 19, 2003 at 01:08:31AM +0200, Alexander Neumann wrote: > Matt Zimmerman wrote: > > libpng-dev is a pure virtual package; the usual method is to specify a > > concrete alternative (e.g., libpng12-dev | libpng-dev). This will fix the > > problem for fvwm. > > Ok, so this isn't a bug but a feature?
More or less. It keeps things much simpler and more consistent if a particular package is always built with the same concrete package providing a virtual package. It is easy to force this, while still allowing any provider to satisfy the dependency, by using a boolean expression. In the case of libpng-dev, it is somewhat arguable, because only one package provides libpng-dev. However, it is entirely likely that eventually another package will provide the same name, and fvwm does not specify a preference. I don't know whether the root cause of this situation is a bug or not, but it ceases to matter when this sanity-preserving method is followed. I'm pretty sure this is documented somewhere, but at any rate it is a best current practice. -- - mdz
