Bug#994275: Reverting breaking changes in debianutils

[tito]

On Sat, 25 Sep 2021 02:22:44 +0000
Clint Adams <clint at debian.org> wrote:

> On Fri, Sep 24, 2021 at 03:00:59PM -0700, Sean Whitton wrote:
> > I thought what you wanted was to drop cjwatson-which, either in favour
> > of no which in Debian at all, or the option to install GNU or BSD which.
> > 
> > However, you have now suggested that someone could package
> > cjwatson-which in another package.  But in that case, what do you see
> > removing cjwatson-which from debianutils as achieving?
> 
> I am merely pointing out that the current situation allows for
> an infinite number of people to package an infinite number of
> `which` alternatives, and no one has to get my permission or
> coordinate with me.
> 
> Adrian has suggested that cjwatson-which is superior to any
> currently proposed alternatives because of its file size.
> I could not care less which `which` alternatives people want
> to maintain because I have no use for /usr/bin/which.
> 
> Picture the happy path: GNU which successfully passes through
> NEW.  A dozen people form a team to package FreeBSD which,
> which also makes it through NEW.  bookworm is released, and
> debianutils drops cjwatson-which.
> 
>  * Anyone who wants GNU which can install and use GNU which
>  * Anyone who wants FreeBSD which can install and use FreeBSD which
>  * `which` is no longer Essential, so people like me who don't want
>    /usr/bin/which on their systems can have that too, because
>    surely no one competent would choose to have a package depend
>    on `which` when a standard POSIX utility can do a better job
>  * The people who care not a whit about `which` no longer see that
>    annoying deprecation warning being spewed by random scripts
>  * All `which` alternatives in Debian will (probably) be maintained
>    upstream, and also maintained downstream by people that care
>    about `which`
>  * debianutils gets closer to achieving its mission, by having
>    one fewer irrelevant utility that does not belong
> 
> In this scenario, the GNU which enthusiasts are happy, the FreeBSD
> which enthusiasts are happy, I am happy, and presumably Adrian
> is unhappy.
> 
> So, then, what is the magic solution that will make all four groups
> happy?
> 

busybox's which?

Ciao,
Tito