dpkg/TODO

Here are some currently-known inadequacies:

urgent
 * Pre-Depends installation ordering

done
 * a.out version
 * uncomment ELF preinst modification
 * Replaces (auto-deselect for conflicts)
 * Replaces (don't overwrite otherwise)
 * compile with ELF GCC out of the box
 * dpkg --print-architecture
 * Architecture field check
 * symlink rename change

bugs that need to be fixed quickly
 * version numbers not starting digit early.
 * check description in dpkg-deb
 * field overflow in dpkg --list
 * _always_ show section in --yet-to-unpack
 * automatically do --yet-to-unpack in installation methods
 * check depending packages when installing new version.
 * error handling from some dselect actions. 1399
 * Several things ought to be configurable but aren't.
 * Filenames containing newlines.  Conffile names containing spaces.
 * dpkg --status for virtual packages
 * dselect bottom window too large, and/or resize
 * update-alternatives prompting.
 * logging, both transcript logs (kept briefly)
   and action logs (kept forever?)  957
 * start-stop-daemon process status check. 1480
 * remove old docs from /usr/doc/dpkg.

other stuff unlikely to get done soon
 * single maintainer script, and new package getting there first
 * dpkg -s show something for virtual packages
 * dpkg --listfiles should do better for multi-package files  (pkg, pkg: ...)
 * settable defaults for update-rc.d
 * local conffiles
 * hooks
 * gzip -0 option for dpkg-deb
 * There is no documentation. 1526
 * newbie interface to dselect. 1037
 * FTP installation method
 * `template' file giving default selections of dselect.
 * update-rc.d in C
 * start-stop-daemon in C. 1670
 * dselect per-half focus and keybindings improvements. 1555
 * floppy map (where are the files)
 * highlight or pre-sort or something new or changed packages,
   during upgrade selection.
 * how to change case of package names
 * support for adding files to dpkg's file lists
 * side-by-side version display
 * `fake' or `null' packages
 * --purge remove empty directories which used too contain conffiles
 * conffiles handling options, including `replace removed files'