[Dctrl-tools-devel] Bug#525525: Bug#525525: Bug#525525: do not separate stanzas with empty lines when showing Description field only

[Antti-Juhani Kaijanaho]

On Mon, Aug 24, 2009 at 04:54:13PM +0200, Stefano Zacchiroli wrote:
> I'm not sure whether dctrl is standardized anywhere.

I'm sure - it isn't.

> I've just checked policy which contains (§5.1) something called
> "control files", definition that applies to the various stanzas of
> debian/control. That syntax prescribes an empty line.  However, what
> you are grepping through are files handled by APT and dpkg which I
> believe fall outside the scope of policy in that respect.

Outside scope yes, but it is a useful starting point.

> As usual, it depends on how many people are relying on that. An
> argument that I'd like to put forward is the following:
> 
> - the proposed change affect the output only when a single multiline
>   field is selected; the current output in that case does not have
>   blank lines as separated
> 
> - hence, people relying on that output are already detecting, as
>   postmark of a new stanza, a non-indented ^Description (or its
>   equivalent)
> 
> - assuming that the new behavior is to output an empty line in that
>   case (assumption that needs to be validated), the detection of new
>   stanza will not break
> 
> The only "breakage" would be that people relying on the old behavior
> will get an extra empty line as part of their Descriptions. The
> breakage (if any, given that current multiline fields would need to be
> joined to be useful) looks like very minor to me.
> 
> Does this argument look convincing?

Mostly okay, except you're focusing too much on Description.
But I don't think that changes it much.

-- 
Antti-Juhani Kaijanaho, Jyväskylä, Finland
http://antti-juhani.kaijanaho.fi/newblog/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/antti-juhani/
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