XPost: linux.debian.bugs.dist
From:
[email protected]
To give an example of where this is needed, the package
microsoft-edge-beta
available from the non-debian repo
$ cat /etc/apt/sources.list.d/microsoft-edge-beta.list
deb [arch=amd64]
https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/edge/ stable main
installs an alternative:
$ update-alternatives --display x-www-browser
x-www-browser - auto mode
link best version is /usr/bin/microsoft-edge-beta
link currently points to /usr/bin/microsoft-edge-beta
link x-www-browser is /usr/bin/x-www-browser
slave x-www-browser.1.gz is /usr/share/man/man1/x-www-browser.1.gz /usr/bin/epiphany-browser - priority 85
slave x-www-browser.1.gz: /usr/share/man/man1/epiphany-browser.1.gz /usr/bin/firefox - priority 70
slave x-www-browser.1.gz: /usr/share/man/man1/firefox.1.gz /usr/bin/microsoft-edge-beta - priority 150
and another
$ update-alternatives --display gnome-www-browser
gnome-www-browser - auto mode
link best version is /usr/bin/microsoft-edge-beta
link currently points to /usr/bin/microsoft-edge-beta
link gnome-www-browser is /usr/bin/gnome-www-browser
slave gnome-www-browser.1.gz is /usr/share/man/man1/gnome-www-browser.1.gz /usr/bin/epiphany-browser - priority 85
slave gnome-www-browser.1.gz: /usr/share/man/man1/epiphany-browser.1.gz /usr/bin/firefox - priority 70
slave gnome-www-browser.1.gz: /usr/share/man/man1/firefox.1.gz /usr/bin/microsoft-edge-beta - priority 150
It is using priority 150 (!) while firefox/sid is using priority 70.
The epiphany-browser has priority 85, which I think is a little bit of overreach, but whatever. And at least there's a place to discuss it:
https://bugs.debian.org/824613
I would classify this as more a deliberate attack than a bug. But the
MS Edge package is not distributed by Debian, so there's not really
anything we can do about it.
Ideally, we'd have a mechanism to override priorities from random
out-of-line packages. (And maybe pre-populate it with offenders like
this particular one. In this case, I'd override to -100 like the update-alternatives(1) example for /bin/ed.)
(Why do I have MS Edge installed? Other obnoxious systems I need to
use require it.)
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