cvs flags for comps?

[Chris Weyl]

Ok, so after reading through the (rather long) threads on comps.xml,
autogeneration, etc, etc, two things stuck in my head from it.

1)  It's not always desirable for all packages to be in comps (perl-*,
python-*, etc).
2)  We need an automated way to tell if a package should be left out
of comps, or if its omission was an oversight.

So...  while waiting for the package db, would it be possible to use a
cvs "flag" file along the lines of what we do with needs.rebuild?
e.g., a branch directory contains:

* 'no.comps' as an empty (or containing reason why) file if it should
not be listed in comps, or
* 'comps' as a file with the groups (one per line) it should be listed under.

This would give an easy, per branch way to determine if a package
should be listed in comps, if so where, or if it's being intentionally
left out by the maintainer.  Automated scripts can look for these to
add packages or rebuild comps*.in; branches missing the file can have
"huh?" notes generated to owners  or summary to extras list.  It has
the added advantage of allowing maintainers to keep this info directly
with the package.

Thoughts?  Good / bad / crazy?

                         -Chris

-- 
Chris Weyl
Ex astris, scientia