On http://people.debian.org/~ajt/sarge_rc_policy.txt AJT writes:
Essential packages must be (adequately) functional when unpacked
but not installed.
Packages listed in "Pre-Depends:" must be (adequately) functional
when unpacked but not installed.
I can find the basis for the first stanza in the Debian policy manual
but I can find no basis for the second as it is currently phrased.
The relevant section in the policy manual is this (from section 7.2):
When a package declaring a pre-dependency is about to be
_unpacked_ the pre-dependency can be satisfied if the depended-on
package is either fully configured, _or even if_ the depended-on
package(s) are only unpacked or half-configured, provided that
they have been configured correctly at some point in the past
(and not removed or partially removed since). In this case, both
the previously-configured and currently unpacked or
half-configured versions must satisfy any version clause in the
`Pre-Depends' field.
It looks to me as if the second paragraph I quoted from sarge_rc_policy.txt
should be rephrased so that it expresses the same requirement as policy
does. Or am I missing something?
--
Thomas Hood
