This is a list of features that are scheduled to be removed from dpkg.


What: 822-date (program)
Status: obsolete
When: lenny+1
Warning: program
Why:
 Should switch to use 'date -R'.

What: cleanup-info (program)
Status: deprecated
When: lenny
Warning: none
Why:
 This program was needed long time ago to fixup broken info dir files
 generated by buggy install-info programs. Should not be needed anymore.

What: Source-Version (substvar)
Status: obsolete
When: lenny+1
Warning: lintian (substvar-source-version-is-deprecated)
Why:
 The semantics of Source-Version are missleading when applied to binNMUs.
 Should switch to use binary:Version or source:Version substvars.

What: Revision, Package-Revision, Package_Revision, Class, Recommended,
      Optional (field)
Status: obsolete
When: lenny+1
Warning: program
Why:
 These fields have been superseded by either other fields with better names
 or values in other fields.

What: recommended, contrib, base (priority)
Status: obsolete
When: lenny+1
Warning: none
Why:
 These priorities have been superseded by either other fields or values in
 other fields.

What: --force-auto-install (dpkg option)
Status: obsolete
When: lenny+1
Warning: program

What: --largemem, --smallmem (dpkg option)
Status: obsolete
When: lenny+1
Warning: program

What: --no-auto-select (dpkg option)
Status: deprecated
When: lenny+1
Warning: none

What: -u, --udeb (dpkg-scanpackages option)
Status: deprecated
When: lenny+1
Warning: none
Why:
 This option has been superseded by -tudeb.

What: substvars support in dpkg-source and dpkg-genchanges
Status: deprecated
When: lenny+1
Warning: program
Why:
 substvars do not make sense during generation of .dsc and .changes files.
 This also means that it won't be possible anymore to override the Format
 field output by dpkg-genchanges.

What: support of custom changelog parsers understanding only -v
Status: obsolete
When: lenny+1
Warning: none
Why:
 The debian changelog parser has been enhanced. It supports new options
 that enable more fine-grained retrieval of information. Those new options
 will be used by scripts (like dpkg-genchanges).
 .
 Custom changelog parsers must be updated to support the new API (see
 dpkg-parsechangelog(1) and README.api).

What: support of PGP
Status: deprecated
When: lenny+1
Warning: program
Why:
 PGP is not part of Debian and GnuPG has been the standard tool for digital
 signatures for several years already. Supporting only GnuPG enables us to
 rely on some of its features.