All packages using Perl vendorarch directory need a perlapi-* dependency

Having $Config{vendorarch} change between Perl major versions (for
multiarch or other reasons) implies that packages using it need a strict
dependency on those versions of perl-base that have a compatible search
path (@INC).

The vast majority of these packages are binary ("XS") modules, where we
already require a dependency on the virtual package perlapi-*, provided
by perl-base. The name of this virtual package will change when the
interface between the Perl interpreter and the modules changes.

If we consider @INC part of that interface, we can use the existing
mechanism also for the few nonbinary modules using $Config{vendorarch}.
This is a new requirement that currently affects six packages in
the archive.

diff --git a/perl-policy.sgml b/perl-policy.sgml
index c23f7c3f6192192bc9c8995d5c88b268ca2435ef..12cd82c136e46c7f88b38727f12e6687edf8c77b 100644 (file)
--- a/perl-policy.sgml
+++ b/perl-policy.sgml
@@ -388,14 +388,15 @@ $(MAKE) install DESTDIR=$(CURDIR)/debian/<tmp>
        </sect1>
 
        <sect1 id="binary_modules">
-         <heading>Binary Modules</heading>
+         <heading>Binary and Other Architecture Dependent Modules</heading>
          <p>
            Binary modules must specify a dependency on either
            <package>perl</package> or <package>perl-base</package> with
            a minimum version of the <package>perl</package> package
-           used to build the module, and must additionally depend on
-           the expansion of
-           <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package> using
+           used to build the module. Additionally, all binary modules
+           (regardless of their installation directory) and any other modules
+           installed into <tt>$Config{vendorarch}</tt> must depend on the
+           expansion of <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package> using
            the <tt>Config</tt> module. If <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt>
            is empty or not set, <tt>$Config{version}</tt> must be used.
          </p>