[Debtags-devel] Re: Do we need better documentation about our subsections?

Thaddeus H. Black t@b-tk.org
Sat, 25 Sep 2004 19:02:33 +0000


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I have not yet answered all your questions,
Gustavo.  Sorry.

> I know debtags and Enrico, but will debtags
> replace our current subsections after sarge ?

If I have my way, yes.

> Was it discussed before?

Yes, but as you know, discussing is one thing;
doing is another.  Enrico, Erich, Benjamin and I
grew tired of discussing the matter a year or
two ago, and have just been working on fixing
the problem since then.  No one has held a vote
of Developers, of course, but the body of
Developers appears to accept the debtags
solution.  If anyone doesn't accept debtags, he
isn't speaking.

I do not know if debtags will formally replace
the existing subsections system any time soon.
I know of no plan to eliminate the Section field
from debian/control, if this is what you mean.
Perhaps Enrico, Benjamin or Erich can speak to
this.  What I do know is that the Section field
is unfortunately already more or less useless,
while debtags is very useful indeed.

I could be mistaken, but my guess is that the
formal elimination of the subsections system can
develop only gradually.  Some day, someone will
ask, "Why do we even bother with the Section
field any longer?  We have debtags."  Then the
dead field can go away.  In the nearer term,
many or most users can just ignore the obsolete
Section field, but Maintainers will continue to
use it for a while, if only for formal reasons.

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