Derrick 'dman' Hudson writes:
> So what's the problem? The problem is
>
> $ apt-cache show python2.3 | grep Depends | head -1
> Depends: libbz2-1.0, libc6 (>= 2.3.2-1), libdb4.1,
> libncurses5 (>= 5.3.20030510-1), libreadline4 (>= 4.3-1),
> libssl0.9.7, zlib1g (>= 1:1.1.4), python (>= 2.3)
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> This wasn't an issue until Matthias added that versioned dependency on
> 'python' in response to bug #204748. In so doing, he has prevented
> people from having the fully functioning 'python' package (version
> 2.2) installed alongside the fully functioning 'python2.3' package and
> use libraries with the version of python that they are currently
> available for.
>
> IMO there should not be a pythonX.Y -> python dependency. Instead,
> the problem reported in bug #204748 can be solved by requiring all
> pythonX.Y related packages to use /usr/bin/pythonX.Y instead of
> /usr/bin/python. Only packages which depend directly on 'python' can
> use /usr/bin/python.
If we don't have this "back" dependency, then we cannot make sure,
that the unversioned dependency is installed at all. The reason for
the unversioned packages was to provide a user with the "python"
binary. If the dependency is made "python" without "(>= 2.3)", then
it's not clear which version get's installed. I think this will be a
non-issue after the transition is done.
> PS. Thanks, Matthias, for providing the 2.3 packages so early! I
> really enjoyed having it available!
yes, but only because the release was scheduled for the "beginning of
2003" :-) But it's certainly useful to make these kind of packages for
the alpha releases.
Matthias
