Hi,

> | -Change Pre-Depends to Depends (OK now that base-files Pre-Depends: awk)

> This is not correct and needs to be reverted, since it means that gawk
> might be unpacked before its dependencies during upgrades.  If the awk
> alternative is set to gawk, other packages which are unpacked in the
> same run and use awk in their pre{inst,rm} scripts which fail.  This is
> not unlikely to happen in squeeze -> wheezy upgrades, since gawk in
> wheezy gained a new dependency on libsigsegv2.

As Jeroen's sponsor I discussied this issue with him when that upload was 
prepared. The conclusion back then was as follows:

Op maandag 21 mei 2012 11:11:40 schreef Jeroen Schot:
> - Alle awk's (mawk, original-awk, gawk) gebruiken pre-depends.
> - 'awk' bevindt zich in de Essential closure (base-files pre-depends: awk).
> 
> Na wat research geloof ik toch dat de pre-depends weg kan.
> Oorspronkelijke reden is te vinden in deze mail [1] in debian-policy
> 1998: base-files had toen een depends: awk. Dit was eigenlijk subtiel
> fout en werd gecorrigeerd in 2008 [2]. Sindsdien is de pre-depends
> niet meer nodig.
> 
> [1]: http://lists.debian.org/debian-policy/1998/02/msg00195.html
> [2]: http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2008/07/msg01028.html

So this is how we arrived at the conclusion that it would be possible to drop 
it.

I've pinged Jeroen oob about this bug but didn't receive a response yet. Given 
the point in the release cycle, I think the safe approach for now is to revert 
the change and re-add the Pre-depends. We can always reopen the issue post-
release if further discussion on the necessity of the pre-depends is desired.

I'll upload a package with the change soon.


Cheers,
Thijs

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