hg-2.3 build fails with python-docutils ~0.10 snapshot rev 7490

[Matt Mackall]

On Mon, 2012-08-20 at 11:39 -0400, Neal Becker wrote:
> Versioned dependencies?

Yes. Debian calls this 'build-depends', RPM apparently calls it
"BuildRequires". You can see Mercurial's build dependencies on Debian
here:

http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/pool/main/m/mercurial/mercurial_2.2.2-1.dsc

>   If I understand correctly what you're asking for, I think that would
> be a non-starter.  We have to work with whatever version the
> distribution provides.  There are not options to parallel install
> multiple versions.

So? Even if this were a run-time conflict rather than a build time
conflict, what matters is that it's a genuine conflict and any
non-broken packaging system already must deal with such problems. In
particular, a package manager should disallow you from installing
packages X and Y if they depend on incompatible versions of libZ. In an
ecosystem with thousands of packages, there will unavoidably always be
packages in the pool that have mutually conflicting dependencies.

Here, we're actually only concerned with build, so a smart autobuilder
can install and uninstall dependencies as needed. Debian's autobuilders
run in a chroot where they're isolated from such conflicts and various
other issues.

-- 
Mathematics is the supreme nostalgia of our time.