Package: debian-policy
Version: 3.5.5
Severity: important
Severity is set to important, because if this is not changed, serious
bugs will have to be reported on a number of other packages. Hence
changing policy first is preferable.
Current policy states:
If a package needs any special device files that are not
included in the base system, it must call
<prgn>MAKEDEV</prgn> in the <prgn>postinst</prgn> script,
after asking the user for permission to do so.</p>
On at least two occasions this has been brought up on the debian-policy
mailing list, and in both cases people couldn't suggest a compelling
reason for this, and suggested that this should be changed. Most
recently: thread starting at
http://lists.debian.org/debian-policy-0107/msg00032.html
I suggest the last line be changed to something like:
after notifying the user.</p>
This notification could be done via a (low-priority) debconf message.
Thanks,
Paul Slootman
