Bug#487850: dh-make-perl: allow adding, not overwriting dependencies with --depends and friends

[Jeremiah C. Foster]

> -=| Andreas Beckmann, Tue, Jun 24, 2008 at 04:29:47PM +0200 |=-
> > what do you think about having an option to add packages to the
> > dependency list without overwriting the defaults and generated deps?
> > I'd suggest allowing the arguments to --depends etc. to be prefixed with
> > '+' which means appending, not overwriting. E.g.
> > 
> >     dh-make-perl ... --depends "+ foo, bar (>> 0), baz (== 42)"
> > 
> > Would result in
> > 
> >     Depends: perl (>= 5.8.0), ${misc:Depends}, libfo-o-bar-perl, foo,
> >      bar (>> 0), baz (== 42)
> 
> I think this should be the default mode and the current --depends 
> behaviour should be moved to --force-depends.

I agree.
 
> OTOH, I don't use --depends at all and always look in the generated 
> debian/control and adjust it to fit the situation...
> 
> What do others say?

Doesn't it occur that the control file does not possess all necessary
dependencies? Aren't there occasions when one has to use --depends?
 
    Jeremiah