Ian Jackson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said: > `Depends' lines won't stop you replacing an earlier version of a > package whose dependencies were satisfied with a newer one shose > dependencies aren't. > > This is necessary so that you can install or upgrade your system in > any order. However, what we need to do here is to enforce an order.
Could this be enforced by having the package conflict with versions of itself earlier than some specified version? If dpkg doesn't support this now, it seems as if supporting it would address this. The downside for users is that they might find themselves in this situation, remove the conflicting older package so they could install the newer one, then find that they couldn't install the newer one until they satisfied its dependencies, leaving them with a desired package uninstalled until they straigntened this out. This might be a serious problem for users with bad (or no) connectivity. However, more directly to the point of moving elfward, I like Ian's suggestion about a elf-available(8) test during preinst of elf-dependent (elfish?) packages. It seems clean, simple, and effective to me.
