Re: Bug#284637: wrong location or perms on /usr/bin/gettext.sh (fwd)

[Santiago Vila]

On Sat, 11 Dec 2004, martin f krafft wrote:

> also sprach Santiago Vila <address@hidden> [2004.12.10.2301 +0100]:
> > As Debian does not have any designated directory in the PATH for
> > shell script function libraries, it clearly follows that /usr/bin
> > is the only sensible directory where gettext.sh may be placed.
> 
> I disagree. It does not belong in /usr/bin,

It does, as Debian policy does not forbid gettext.sh to be in /usr/bin.
You have even said this yourself in your initial report:

"policy does not really say that /usr/bin must not contain non-executables."

> so Debian should either adopt a dedicated directory (which makes no
> sense),

It would not make sense, I agree.

> or you should extend $PATH accordingly before using gettext.sh.

which makes no sense either, as /usr/bin already exists, it's already
in the PATH, and does the work.

> In any case, the location will be well-defined on any Debian system,
> so it would be even better to just hardcode it.

No, paths should not be hardcoded, it would defeat the purpose of
having a PATH variable at all.

By hardcoding the location of gettext.sh, people would not have the
freedom to put another version in /usr/local/bin to override it.
That would be gratuitously harmful.

> > I'm glad that Debian policy does not say that /usr/bin must not contain
> > non-executables, because that would be a bug in policy :-)
> > 
> > Closing this report (which is not really a bug).
> 
> I do not want to get into the close-reopen-close-reopen game, so
> I will not reopen it right now. However, I think this issue is not
> resolved. Please do as you see appropriate.

This issue is resolved: The Debian gettext package does not violate
Debian policy by placing gettext.sh in /usr/bin.

It has been already explained why /usr/bin is the logical place to put
gettext.sh, and we agree that policy does not forbid such thing.

If you still think "this issue is not resolved", then you should
propose a policy change, instead of complaining to me.