[I sent this to -devel yesterday morning and got no replies.
Thought I'd try here. I'm pretty much decided to go with option
#1 below, but welcome advice.]
I'm seeking a bit of advice about an upcoming package split.
I maintain the xtide package. Currently, it's not a pristine
package: I add harmonics data to the package that are otherwise
downloaded manually from the author's web site (it was packaged
this way when I adopted it). Since the xtide software itself and
the harmonics data are updated independently by the author, I
want to split off the package into the software and a supporting
data package. This will allow:
- Upload of each part following their own upstream schedule.
- The data part is big (8.4MB installed), so users with small
pipes could put it on hold and only update the software.
- `stable' users could probably install data from `unstable'.
Here's are the package split options I'm seeking advice on:
1- In a perfect world, I'd create `xtide' and `xtide-data' with
xtide recommending xtide-data (except that apt-get does
nothing about recommended packages).
Advantages:
- Follows Debian tradition.
- Users could temporarilly install xtide-data, edit the
stations of interest to them into a new data file and purge
xtide-data.
Disavantages:
- Casual user might do `apt-get install xtide', try it and
see an apparently broken package and remove it.
2- Create `xtide' and `xtide-data' with xtide _depending_ on
xtide-data.
Advantages:
- Casual user might do `apt-get install xtide', try it and
see a working package.
Disavantages:
- Users that want to download data separately would have a
problem.
- Users that want to install xtide-data and trim it down (as
described above) could not purge the package, but would
need to put the package on hold instead.
3- Create package `xtide' that depends on `xtide-base' and
`xtide-data'. Casual users can install `xtide' and have a
working package. Others could only install `xtide-base'.
If I did this, should the `xtide' package be bundled along
with `xtide-base' and have the same version number?
(`xtide-data' would have it's own independent version numbers.)
Should it be a meta-package?
Thanks for your input!
--
Peter Galbraith
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