[Dict-common-dev] Recent changes in dictionaries-common: dh_aspell and others

[Agustin Martin]

Dear spellchecking dictionaries and wordlists maintainers,

There were some recent changes in the system that may be interesting
for your package, after initial work by Andreas Beckmann and Tobias
Frost. Read below some reasons to consider upgrading your package to
use some of the new features.

* aspell-simple:

  This is new feature intended to make things easier for people
  maintaining aspell dictionaries created from pristine aspell
  sources (created with aspell "proc" utility, as are those fetched
  from aspell home page) that create nothing else than the aspell
  dictionary package.

  In these cases, debian/rules can be made as compact as

  # ===== 8< =====
  #!/usr/bin/make -f

  %:
        dh $@ --with aspell-simple

  # this is not a GNU autoconf/automake build system
  override_dh_auto_configure:
        ./configure
  # ===== >8 =====

* substvars:

  Added support for ${wordlist:Depends}, ${ispell:Depends},
  ${aspell:Depends} and ${hunspell:Depends} substvars.

* ispell/aspell autobuildhash symlinks:

  Build structure and autobuildhash scripts have been changed to allow
  those symlinks being no longer shipped with the package but created
  by the ispell or aspell autobuildhash script.

  A list of automatically created  symlinks is put in a .remove list
  to make sure they are removed from postrm. Dangling symlinks are
  searched for and removed at the trigger run (this last may have been
  enough, but having .remove files does not harm).

  This way we no longer need to ship any dangling symlink with the
  dictionary package or wordlist.

Most recent bug fixes and changes in the system came with
dictionaries-common-dev 1.23.3, see changelog for the details. Consider
build-depending on at least that version.

As usually feedback is appreciated,

Regards,

-- 
Agustin