[Pkg-octave-devel] Bug#460812: Bug#460812: octave-doc, octave-info, etc. should be actual packages

[Thomas Weber]

Am Montag, den 14.01.2008, 20:14 -0500 schrieb James R. Van Zandt:
> Package: octave
> Version: 1:2.9.19-2
> Severity: normal
> 
> 
> The "octave" package is a virtual package, which will automatically
> install the most recent version of octave.  

Well, not really. The "octave" package pulls in the so deemed "best"
version of Octave. Which already points at the problem:

1) Deemed best by whom?
2) What metric for "best"?

At some point during the 2.1=>2.9 cycle, the best version switched from
2.1 to 2.9.[1] However, doing this in the distribution has some effects
(several packages shipping .oct files needed some changes, ...), so
package maintainers should depend on the specific version of Octave they
need/support. 

So, I'd actually prefer to get rid of the empty octave package, instead
of addding new meta-packages.

[1] "Best" by about any metric: features, upstream support, number of
bugs, ...

	Thomas