Package: debhelper Version: 9 So as yet, I'm not really certain how to classify the problem here -- some of it may just be pilot error on the part of add-on package maintainers, but I suspect that at a minimum, debhelper may be making mistakes a bit easier than we'd like. (Assuming I haven't misinterpreted the evidence.)
As you probably know, there are a number of requirements for new "2.0" add-on packages (primarily section 5 in /usr/share/doc/emacsen-common/debian-emacs-policy.gz). One requirement is that every new-style package have a compat/PACKAGE file *and* a "Conflicts: emacsen-common (< 2.0.0)". In addition, new-style packages must make notably different calls in their maintainer scripts, and for everything to work correctly, it's critical that all of these things go together. In fact, emacsen-common uses both the way that it is invoked by the package and the compat file to determine how to behave (with respect to an old or new style package). If emacsen-common detects that it's being invoked by an old-style package it has to maintain a different set of behaviors/guarantees (from the old policy). But right now, from a package I saw, it looked like dh_installemacsen may have inserted the maintainer script calls for a new-style package, even though the package itself hadn't migrated (i.e. hadn't added the Conflicts, hadn't added a compat file, and may not have rewritten its install/remove scripts to handle the fact that it's going to be called differently as a new-style package). This might break things badly. Assuming there is a debhelper issue here, I don't have strong feelings about the solution, but if dh_installemacsen is going to limit itself to the new-style infrastructure (which would certainly be easier), one possibility would be to just refuse to proceed with any package that doesn't have a correct compat file. When it's missing, point the maintainers at policy section 5 for any bits that debhelper won't be able to handle for them automatically (i.e. Conflicts, reworking the install/remove script, etc.). Then, once they've fixed that up and created the compat file, dh_installemacsen could proceed normally. (I'm not sure which version was used to create the package I saw, but it was compat 9.) Thanks, and hope this helps. -- Rob Browning rlb @defaultvalue.org and @debian.org GPG as of 2011-07-10 E6A9 DA3C C9FD 1FF8 C676 D2C4 C0F0 39E9 ED1B 597A GPG as of 2002-11-03 14DD 432F AE39 534D B592 F9A0 25C8 D377 8C7E 73A4 -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [email protected] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [email protected]
