When a binary package is renamed or split, as well as if several packages are
merged under a new name, transitional packages are normally created, which
depend on the new packages, which in turn Replaces and Conflicts with, and
possibly Provides, the old packages. I find those dummy packages as silly to
create as to uninstall after upgrading.

I propose a new control field called e.g. Supersedes that will provide the
same semantics. In its simplest form, a renamed package will declare that it
Supersedes the old package name. That will be considered equivalent to
conflicting with/replacing earlier versions of the superseded package, as well
as providing a new version of it, just like a dummy package. Multiple packages
can supersede the same package (but they should probably be the same version),
and one package can of course supersede many others.

This proposal should be feasible; APT scans all Packages lists searching for
the best version of a given package to install, doesn't it? so it will be able
to find the Supersedes fields at the same time.

This would, among other things, solve the git problem; gnuit would supersede
git, which would tell APT that the latter should be upgraded into the former,
and that git the VCS is something else entirely.

--
Magnus Holmgren        holmgren@debi...
Debian Developer