[Debian-med-packaging] How to specify a >= X < Y Depends (Was: Packaging GNU Health)

[Niels Thykier]

On 2012-11-26 08:59, Emilien Klein wrote:
> [...]
>>
>> I believe it is quite valid to use:
>>
>>   tryton (>= 2.4~), tryton (<< 2.5~)
>>
>> At least lintian4python uses this approach (rather than breaks/conflicts
>> etc).
>>
>> ~Niels
>>
>> PS: The "~" is there to handle the case where tryton might be backported.
> 
> Just for my information, what happens when Tryton 2.6 is made
> available in the repo, whith my package using either conflicts or <<
> 2.5~? Does that result in some kind of error/conflict message (in apt,
> update manager, etc.) or is the new Tryton package ignored?
> 
> Thanks,
>    +Emilien
> 
> 

Either way, APT will refuse the upgrade or have the user pick between
the new tryton package or your package (assuming your package has not
been updated by then).
  The new tryton will by default not be able to migrate to testing until
your package has been updated[1].

~Niels

[1] In theory, it can if the new tryton "fixes more than it breaks", but
packages in testing are not uninstallable all that often, so odds are it
will tryton will wait in sid till you are done updating.