[R-pkg-team] Bug#930369: dh-r: Please drop automated package-contains-documentation-outside-usr-share-doc Lintian override generation

[Chris Lamb]

Package: dh-r
Version: 20190121
Severity: wishlist
X-Debbugs-CC: lintian-maint at debian.org

Hi,

In #930311, Niels Thykier mentions that he:

> noticed that the dh-r package by default creates an override for
> package-contains-documentation-outside-usr-share-doc when the R
> package puts documentation in usr/lib/R/site-library

To wit, https://sources.debian.org/src/dh-r/20190121/dh/R.pm/?hl=3#L268.

My retort was that "the idea of automatically-generated overrides
simply makes me squirm" and so I added an exception to Lintian itself
here:

  https://salsa.debian.org/lintian/lintian/commit/a16cd3a1c812c8894bddf9b920561eb0dd602d85

Accordingly, please remove the automatic generation code. At the very
least it will now result in annoying "unused override" warnings
instead.

(As an aside, if a similar situation occurs in the future, please
consider requesting the Lintian maintainers to make a general
exception; it is surely poor software engineering practice to litter
our entire archive when we can so easily fix it in one place.)


Best wishes,

-- 
      ,''`.
     : :'  :     Chris Lamb
     `. `'`      lamby at debian.org / chris-lamb.co.uk
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