On Tue, Mar 24, 2009 at 12:05:43PM +0100, Raphael Hertzog wrote: > the dpkg team and the texinfo maintainer have laid out a plan to > get rid of dpkg /usr/sbin/install-info and start relying on > GNU's install-info when needed. This will involve some work to > transition properly. We have described our plan here:
> http://wiki.debian.org/Transitions/DpkgToGnuInstallInfo It would be nice if the details were posted to the mailing list instead of referencing a wiki. * dpkg ships a new /usr/sbin/install-info that will call /usr/bin/install-info with the same arguments. It also warns the user if called with an absolute path. Dpkg also contains Breaks against old versions of all info-browsers that do not depend on install-info. I don't like the sound of this. Why is it necessary to provide /usr/sbin/install-info? I assume this is out of concern that some packages will be calling install-info with an explicit path, but that's been contrary to Policy for years ("Programs called from maintainer scripts should not normally have a path prepended to them", Policy 6.1) and I don't see any evidence looking at my local systems that install-info is being used incorrectly. I don't think there should be an extra install-info in the path without a clearer rationale. Also, is the new dpkg going to Pre-Depend: on this new install-info package? If not, what does this /usr/sbin/install-info wrapper script do when called and /usr/bin/install-info is absent? Packages currently call install-info from their maintainer scripts unconditionally, because it's provided by an Essential package. > Please review and raise any suggestions if you have any. There > has been some extensive discussion on -dpkg already that you can read > to understand the choices made: > http://lists.debian.org/debian-dpkg/2009/03/msg00019.html Given that install-info is codified in Policy, I think this plan needs to be vetted via the policy process and include specific changes to the language in Policy, prior to moving forward on implementation. -- Steve Langasek Give me a lever long enough and a Free OS Debian Developer to set it on, and I can move the world. Ubuntu Developer http://www.debian.org/ slanga...@ubuntu.com vor...@debian.org -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-devel-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
