Bug#380023: gamin: Please remove the conflict with fam

[Loïc Minier]

        Hi,

On Thu, Jul 27, 2006, Christopher Cashell wrote:
> > > I'm trying to some testing with both of them, to determine which one
> > > will provide what I need better, and it's a pain in the butt when
> > > installing gamin forces me to remove fam.
> >  From
> >  <http://packages.debian.org/cgi-bin/search_contents.pl?searchmode=filelist&word=libgamin0&version=unstable&arch=i386>:
> >  usr/lib/libfam.so.0   libs/libfam0,libs/libgamin0
> >  I'm closing your bug.
> I don't see how that invalidates the bug (please remove conflict with
> fam) so much as just changes the meaning behind it to "please fix
> package to play nice with other packages providing same-named
> libraries".

 This is by design, libgamin provides a library with exactly the same
 name and ABI as libfam, so the packages will necessarily conflict.
 This is on purpose.

> >  Next time you have a *question*, ask it on a list, such as
> >  debian-gtk-gnome at .
> The question was there to support the bug and provide my reason for
> requesting the (wishlist) change.  Especially if the library is
> ABI-compatible with fam's library (according to e-mail from Josselin
> Mouette), it seems silly that the package isn't tweaked to use the
> other so they can co-exist.

 It's the other way around, libgamin0 relies on gamin.  libfam is the
 ABI of all packages, the libfam of fam requires fam and the libfam of
 gamin requires gamin.

 I think you were offended by me rapidly closing the bug, but there's
 nothing to be offended about: it seemed to me you had no *bug* to
 report on the first place, you /wondered/ about the conflict.  Since
 conflicts do not come to life magically, they usually have a reason to
 exist!  :)
   The first place to look for packaging questions is in the changelog,
 searching for "conflict" in the gamin changelog yields:

    gamin (0.0.21-1) unstable; urgency=low

      * Built for Debian
        [...]
        - gamin conflicts with fam (Closes: #287859)
        [...]
     -- Jeff Waugh <jdub at perkypants.org>  Sun, 30 Jan 2005 08:46:56 +1100

 Then, if you still wonder why something has be done, you can ask,
 either on a list, or to the maintainers (you can write to e.g.
 gamin at packages.debian.org).

 I hope this clarifies why this is not a bug, and why I closed it.

> Either way, according to Josselin this package is no longer maintained,
> and that, coupled with this bug experience, have led me to believe that
> I am better off without this package.

 Well, it's not officially "orphaned", but we dropped references to it
 from all GNOME packages due to bugs and due to the fact that upstream
 has abandonned development of gamin.

 However, I think XFCE and KDE still rely on gamin and will still pull
 it in.

   Bye,
-- 
Loïc Minier <lool at dooz.org>