[PureOS] Dropping derived cron package?

[Guido Günther]

Hi,
On Sat, Oct 16, 2021 at 05:05:49PM +0200, Jonas Smedegaard wrote:
> Hi Carsten,
> 
> Quoting Carsten Schoenert (2021-10-16 16:47:52)
> > back in 2018 Matthias did a small modification within the cron package 
> > that resulted in forked tree and small different binary package for 
> > cron. Basically the only difference is this patch:
> > 
> > > $ git show c2766e7259b86b32bcecd2d61607eb022fd31310
> > > commit c2766e7259b86b32bcecd2d61607eb022fd31310
> > > Author: Matthias Klumpp <matthias at tenstral.net>
> > > Date:   Sun Aug 19 20:50:32 2018 +0200
> > > 
> > >     Only suggest, not recommend, an MTA
> > > 
> > > diff --git a/debian/control b/debian/control
> > > index 1bd9c3e..e6a6766 100644
> > > --- a/debian/control
> > > +++ b/debian/control
> > > @@ -25,12 +25,11 @@ Depends:
> > >      adduser,
> > >      lsb-base (>= 3.0-10),
> > >      libpam-runtime (>= 1.0.1-11)
> > > -Recommends:
> > > -    exim4 | postfix | mail-transport-agent
> > >  Suggests:
> > >      anacron (>=2.0-1),
> > >      logrotate,
> > > -    checksecurity
> > > +    checksecurity,
> > > +    exim4 | postfix | mail-transport-agent
> > >  Breaks:
> > >      dpkg (<< 1.15.4)
> > >  Provides: cron-daemon
> > 
> > In between times the packaging in Debian has been changed on this part.
> > 
> > > $ git show f27b9ccdb2046fe3fbb1eef6d7801d4b3d6900c7
> > > commit f27b9ccdb2046fe3fbb1eef6d7801d4b3d6900c7
> > > Author: Christian Kastner <ckk at debian.org>
> > > Date:   Tue Feb 19 21:46:16 2019 +0100
> > > 
> > >     Switch cron MTA Recommends to default-mta | mail-transport-agent
> > >     
> > >     Recommend these virtual packages rather than specific MTAs.
> > > 
> > > diff --git a/debian/control b/debian/control
> > > index fc59f49..609e84f 100644
> > > --- a/debian/control
> > > +++ b/debian/control
> > > @@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ Depends:
> > >      lsb-base (>= 3.0-10),
> > >      libpam-runtime (>= 1.0.1-11)
> > >  Recommends:
> > > -    exim4 | postfix | mail-transport-agent
> > > +    default-mta | mail-transport-agent
> > >  Suggests:
> > >      anacron (>= 2.0-1),
> > >      logrotate,
> > 
> > Is this change worth to update the current cron package in byzantium or 
> > could the derived package instead get dropped?
> > 
> > (It's not completely clear to me why the mta part was moved to Suggests.)
> 
> PureOS does not install an MTA by default - Debian does.
> 
> Debian historically hardcoded a preference of using exim4 as MTA, but at 
> some point made that flexible - so that derivatives could use a 
> different default without needing to recompile each and every package 
> depending on or recommending an MTA.
> 
> Makes sense to me to maintain the delta - i.e. update the patch to lower 
> from recomending to suggesting default-mta (not exim4).

Overlapping replies but yours reads way better, thanks and sorry for the
duplicate! I agree to maintain the delta.

Cheers,
 -- Guido

> 
> When you rework a patch like that, the best is that you preserve the 
> original patch author but add yourself as well: Idea is that it serves 
> as a note for anyone wanting to get in touch with whoever wrote the 
> patch - and even if you perhaps want to be polite and give full credit 
> to Matthias for his creative work here, that would be misleading if 
> someone wanted to ask whe the heck the patch is broken...
> 
> (speaking from experience of "giving fill credit" only to have that 
> backfire later on...)
> 
> 
>  - Jonas
> 
> -- 
>  * Jonas Smedegaard - idealist & Internet-arkitekt
>  * Tlf.: +45 40843136  Website: http://dr.jones.dk/
> 
>  [x] quote me freely  [ ] ask before reusing  [ ] keep private



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