Bug#672791: Strict internal dependencies make libavcodec53 uninstallable when updating to libav 0.9

[Reinhard Tartler]

Package: libavcodec53
Severity: important

I have now prepared a new upstream snapshot of libav at
http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=pkg-multimedia/libav.git;a=shortlog;h=refs/heads/experimental.
In this new version, the SONAME of libavcodec and libavformat was bumped
from 53 to 54. This is not a problem by itself and necessary as a number
of deprecated APIs have been dropped. However, libavutil51 has not been
bumped, but is simply newer. This fact now causes the problem that the
'old' libavcodec53, which a lot of applications link against, becomes
uninstallable because of the strict internal dependencies:

Depends: libavutil51 (>= 4:0.8.1-0ubuntu1) | libavutil-extra-51 (>= 4:0.8.1), libavutil51 (<< 4:0.8.1-99) | libavutil-extra-51 (<< 4:0.8.1.99)

What can we do now about this:

a) We could simply drop the strict internal dependencies.

They were mostly a safety guard to ensure that on upstream version
upgrades, all shipped libraries stay in sync. This is exactly what
breaks now. Technically, removing this safety net is easy to do by
dropping a few lines in debian/rules.

b) somehow ship a 'new' libavcodec53 that links against the new
libavutil.

Yay, code duplication. We would also need to duplicate libavformat53. I
think this is a no-go.

c) bump SONAME of libavutil

This would work, but I'd rather not diverge from upstream's SONAMES. And
convincing upstream to do this to accommodate Debian's rather strange
decisions with strict internal dependencies is rather not going to happen.

d) something else I didn't think of.


TBH, I'd tend for option a), but before going that way, I'd also like to
hear your input on that.

Cheers,
Reinhard