[Pkg-acpi-devel] Bug#556903: Is acpi-support deprecated?

[Jonathan Nieder]

Package: acpi-support
Version: 0.129-1
Severity: wishlist

Hi ACPI team,

This likely reflects confusion on my part; please let me know.

I am a fan of the ability of Debian systems to cleanly shut down when
the "off" button is pressed.  I believe you are the ones to thank for
this, so thank you.

Recently, I was surprised to learn upstream considers these scripts a
deprecated temporary solution:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/hardy/+source/linux/+bug/217504/comments/82
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/hardy/+source/linux/+bug/217504/comments/91
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Hotkeys/Troubleshooting?action=diff&rev2=31&rev1=30

So, a few questions:

1. What is the suggested replacement for these scripts?  I know the
hotkey events should be being generated by in-kernel drivers, but what
process should respond to pressing the power button and tell init?
(Maybe this is gnome-power-manager.  In that case, I guess a separate
bug is needed, requesting a gnome-power-manager-light build depending
on hal, dbus, libnotify, and no other X-related libraries.)

2. Would it be possible to direct users better in the package
description?  I am imagining a notice somewhat along these lines:

	This package is meant as a temporary solution to problems in
	other packages.  For suspend and hibernate support (even
	without X), see gnome-power-manager.  Laptop hotkeys should
	generate key press events nowadays even without this package;
	try it with ‘xev’ and see the ‘udev’ documentation if this is
	not working.

Looking forward to your thoughts,
Jonathan