[pacman-dev] 'replaces' confusion

[eliott at cactuswax.net]

> I've thought about that too... actually, i've been wanting to try an
> architecture where we don't have:
>   /var/lib/pacman/*/foo-1.2-1/desc
> but
>   /var/lib/pacman/*/foo-1.2-1
> as a normal file, containing all info.  Less files == good.
>
> Still, part of the reason the pacman3 DB format hasn't changed much is
> for easy of transition.  I don't feel comfortable saying "run this
> script to convert your DB" or something like that.... so basically it
> needs to be thought out well in advance.

I think that is a reasonable position though.
I think holding to backwards compatibility in *some cases*, will only
maintain previous limitations. I think the major version change (pacman
3.x) is a good indicator to end users that things like this are expected
to change.