[Fedora-packaging] Packaging of /usr/share/doc/{%name}-{%version} directories not 100% clear

[Alexander Todorov]

Hi guys,
I was looking into bug #1114586 and it reveals a significant number (400+) of 
RPM packages which leave empty directories under /usr/share/doc when installed 
with --excludedocs.

I've looked at a few of them and they had either

%dir %{_docdir}/%{name}-%{version}
%doc %{_docdir}/%{name}-%{version}/some_file

or

%doc %{_docdir}/%{name}-%{version}

in their spec files.

The ones which don't leave behind empty directories specify only the 
documentation files, not the name-version directories as part of the file list.

In my test all 400+ directories under /usr/share/doc are empty, no files in 
them. Obviously we don't need these directories either. It is very likely people 
who use --excludedocs will complain about these empty directories as well.



The Packaging Guide doesn't say anything about these name-version directories, 
whether they should be specified in the spec file or only the indivisual files 
specified. I'd like to hear your opinion on this packaging situation before I go 
ahead and file hundreds of bugs into Bugzilla.


Thanks,
Alex