[Debian-hebrew-common] [OT] packages depend on base-files?

[Baruch Even]

* Amos Shapira <amos.shapira at gmail.com> [061110 04:51]:
> Hi,
> 
> I'm sending this here as a quick question to an audience of DD's before I
> try to pursue this further.
> 
> I'm not a Debian developer but today I just happened to check "reverse
> dependencies" on "base-files" in aptitude (Etch) and noticed that a few
> packages list it as an explicit dependency even though this package is
> marked as "essential" and has priority "required" (whatever is the
> difference).  Isn't this against policy? If so then who should I contact
> about this? I don't feel like I'm empowered to mass-file bug reports as a
> non-DD.

The relevant part of the policy is section 3.5:

     Packages are not required to declare any dependencies they have on
     other packages which are marked `Essential' (see below), and should
     not do so unless they depend on a particular version of that
     package.[1]

According to this this is a 'should not' indeed, and in that section
there is also a lengthy explanation why it shouldn't be done.

However, all of these rdependes are versioned which is clearly permitted
in that paragraph. You can check the packages changelog to know if this
is justified or not, if yes, simply file a bug report, they will be
individual reasons and not a mass bug report anyway.

To answer your original question, the protocol for a mass bug report is
to email to debian-devel@ and ask if it is thought to be justified. You
can ofcourse also ask the package maintainer directly.

Cheers,
Baruch