Frank Küster writes ("Bug#391240: debian-policy: Please elaborate on cleaning up files outside the build dir"): > "writing to the home directory" also includes creation of dotfiles, > which some programs do when used the first time (and they keep "copies" > of the site-wide conffiles there, which are not subject to conffile > updating). The problem with the TeX font cache has actually caused a > FTBFS bug, and I've documented it in the TeX policy draft (pending > upload). However, many packages create documentation without directly > using TeX, and therefore won't find the information in the TeX policy.
Surely cache data is OK if the cache is functioning properly ? That is, if the data which ends up in the cache doesn't cause any difference in behaviour other than a speed increase. I don't understand the TeX problem at all, but wouldn't it be a bug in TeX if it caches things in a way that makes it break in the future ? Ian.