I wrote, some time ago, in response to a bug report:
> Bill Mitchell writes ("Bug#1511: Packages vs. packages for ms-dos
> compatability"):
> > PACKAGE: dpkg (and the ftp site)
> >
> > The "Packages" and "Packages.gz" files do not have ms-dos
> > compatible filenames. Depending on the tools used, manipulating
> > these files on, MSDOS filesystems can be a problem.
> >
> > I suggest that these files be renamed to "packages" and "packages.gz",
> > respectively. they should be placed on the ftp site with these
> > ms-dos compatible names. dselect should probably look for the files
> > first under these names and, if that fails, under their current
> > names.
>
> The dselect installation method scripts already look for the
> lowercase versions.
>
> I suggest that these files only be renamed in the ms-dos sections.
> Having them start with a capital P is important so that they sort
> before the packages files or directories with which they share the
> directory.
>
> Ian M, if you're editing mkpackages anyway go ahead and change this;
> otherwise I can do it. Presumably mkpackages will need changing to
> cope with the new FTP site organisation, anyway. Let me know.
Has this been changed yet ? I'm going to reassign this bug to
(ftp.debian.org).
Ian.
