Re: Source-Depends implementation

[Dale Scheetz <dwarf@polaris.net>]

On Tue, 12 Jan 1999, Ben Collins wrote:

> On Tue, Jan 12, 1999 at 01:09:52PM -0500, Dale Scheetz wrote:
> > Do either dpkg-source or dpkg-buildpackage have some compelling need to be
> > driven by these dependencies?
> 
> IMO, they should do nothing more than give a warning, but continue as if
> nothing was wrong. The only reason for source depends is a 'quick check'.
> for users and automated programs such as dbuild and apt. It should be left
> up to the user as to the importance of these messages.
> 
> As far as alternate sources. I think the only one listed should be the one
> the original packager used to compile it with. This assures compatibility
> across the ports. We don't want i386 "pkgfoo" to be linked against slang
> while the sparc "pkgfoo" is linked against ncurses.

That wasn't my point. I maintaine ae, which over the past several years
has moved from terminfo, to several specific ncurses, and finally to slang
and slang1. So, it is important to "normal" development to be able to
move to something else.

In addition, while the automated builds benefit from knowing about and
satisfying these dependencies in the "prescribed" Debian fashion, the user
should have the freedom to reconfigure these packages to alternate
libraries without having to rebuild the package from scratch.

Thanks, 

Dwarf
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