[lsb-discuss] Adding dependency on "lsb" causes huge downloads

[Wichmann, Mats D]

lsb-discuss-bounces at lists.linux-foundation.org wrote:
 
>> Extend it to a more general question:
>> 
>> Even "dependencies based on actual files" do not fully solve
>> the issue because even the actual file locations differ from
>> Linux distribution to Linux distribution.
>> 
>> For example see above
>>    Requires: /usr/share/doc/packages/cups/help/man-cupsd.html
> what you need is to have a common provides
> for instance in fedora all mailservers provide server(smtp)
> so this means a package needing to send email can "Require:
> server(smtp)" and know that the users favourite smtp server will be
> available. 

Yes.  A set of common provides, or abstractions, is getting
back to where we started this.  'lsb' is such an abstraction,
but it's seeming kind of a blunt instrument.

We really don't want to see low-level details exposed to/used
by "third party" apps, it will end up tying the packages much
too narrowly to the platform where they were built. We want 
them instead to require capabilities - and let the distro
internally deal with the details of how those are satisfied.

There was an effort at this sort of concept for initscripts
that I don't know if was ever useful in LSB section "20.6
Facility Names".