Adam McKenna writes:
> Without even looking at them, I can tell you the following:
>
> 1) *if* the packages comply with dist.html, they will _never_ get into
> potato.
> 2) If they don't comply with dist.html, you will not be allowed to
> distribute them.
>
> It's basically a lose/lose situation. If you want dist.html-compliant debs
> for your own use or for unofficial use, that's fine. But they will never go
> into debian, because they are in gross violation of debian's packaging
> policy, and also there are already source packages for these programs in
> debian.
I don't understand why Debian doesn't have exceptions for packages
which require cross-platform compatibility. Is the concept of a piece
of software which uses the same pathnames no matter where you
encounter it so strange? And all of the compatibility can be achieved
through symlinks, so what's the big deal? Binaries can actually be
stored in /usr/bin, control files can actually be stored in
/etc/qmail, the queue can actually be in /var/spool. All that Dan
insists on (and it's a reasonable insistance) is that anyone can sit
down at a qmail installation and say "vi /var/qmail/control/locals".
If you want to see a *real* horror, look at how qmail gets started up.
Might be by running it from /etc/rc.local. Might be from
/etc/rc.d/init.d/qmail. Might be from /etc/init.d/qmail. Might be
from /etc/init.d/{qmail,smtpd,pop3}. Might be from /service/qmail.
Logs might be in /var/log/qmail. Might be in /var/log/syslog. Might
be in /var/log/maillog. Might be in /service/qmail/log/main.
All of this is stuff that Dan didn't specify from the outset. Now
imagine if vendors had been allowed to change qmail. All of qmail
would be as bad as qmail startup. I mean, seriously: do you need to
ask what operating system someone is running when they have a
virtualdomains or an alias question? No. You can say "edit this
file." You can even give them a set of commands to cut and paste.
Of course, the Debian people have a worthwile goal. It's just that
their goal, lower support costs, can be achieved in other ways. In
fact, I'd even say that their method is wrong. Nobody goes to Debian
people and asks them for MTA support (at least I'd hope not, not
unless Debian plans on reinventing *every* wheel). No, they go to the
mailing list associated with the MTA.
--
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