Bug#726020: rebuilding packages needing curl.h is impossible with the actual setup

[Eric Valette]

On 12/10/2013 13:45, Andreas Metzler wrote:

> A1: Look at it, there is no inherent benefit, it is the same thing
> just with other identifiers. In the current regime a package would
> have to use "Depends: gnutls-dev" to require *any* gnutls development
> package, while with your sugestion it would write "Depends: libgnutls-dev".

Except that package already depends on libgnutls-dev and not on 
gnutls-dev meaning that you have to change all the control files when 
building existing packages if they have explicit depend...

> Also, packages usually do not depend on *any* arbitrary version of
> gnutls development. They usually want either "at least version x" or
> commonly "the corresponding development suite of the runtime library
> we are linking against".

Right. That is exactly why changing the name is not a good idea.


> Q3: Why does libcurl4-gnutls-dev enforce installation of the gnutls26
> development package ("libgnutls-dev") instead of depending on any
> version of gnutls development ("gnutls-dev")?
> A3: Afaict the dependeny exists mainly to allow static linking. And
> this requires that the correct version of libgnutls.a is present, i.e.
> one that is ABI compatible with the one curl was built against.

Yers but what I suggest would do the trick if insteda of providing 
libgnutls-dev, the build of gnutls26 was building libgnutls26-dev 
package that itself would provide libgnutls-dev.

That way installing libgnutls28-dev would force the installation of 
libgnutls28 and  removal of libgnutls26-dev and thus the removal of 
libcurl4-gnutls-dev. The only way to get it back would be to build from 
source but then you have no problem at all with build-dep.

Thanks for your time anyway I have a working and coherent version now.
I just did:
	1) download of libgnutls28-dev package, extraction of control and tar 
file to change the provide name as I suggest, editing the control file 
and rebuild and reinstalled the pacakge,
	2) apt-get source curl, apt-get build-dep curl that poses no problem, 
and rebuild.

Only trick being that I have to put resulting package  on hold

-- eric