Re: Ubuntu 11.10 packages from svn

[Ivan Vučica]

On 14. 3. 2012., at 20:46, Philippe Roussel wrote:

> Le 14/03/2012 20:23, Ivan Vučica a écrit :
>> On Wed, Mar 14, 2012 at 19:19, Philippe Roussel<p.o.roussel@free.fr>  wrote:
>> 
>>> 
>>> Well, I'm far from a packaging expert but I think it's considered bad form
>>> to include a debian folder in the sources. Some of the files on this folder
>>> as to be changed for each distribution, for each modifications etc.
>> 
>> Both ways are described in Debian documentation, but the "no-debian-folder"
>> is encouraged.
> 
> Note to self : check the documentation before replying :o)
> Thanks for the info.

For list's reference:
http://wiki.debian.org/DebianMentorsFaq

"What's wrong with upstream shipping a debian/ directory?"

Quoting:
--
There are cases where upstream ships a tarball which already contains a debian 
directory. This is undesirable, even if you're upstream yourself or can commit 
there. Keep the released tarballs (used as .orig.tar.gz) and the debian 
directory separated.

The problem is that at some point, upstream's debian directory will deviate 
from the one in the Debian package -- because the maintainer changes, the 
directory was already outdated, or someone does an NMU or a security upload. 
Because it was The .diff.gz will now be a diff between the two debian dirs, 
which is very confusing.

The Debian package format is designed to keep upstream and Debian-specific 
neatly separated into orig.tar.gz and .diff.gz. Putting the debian dir in the 
.orig.tar.gz confuses this.

If upstream has a debian directory in their releases, you should contact them 
and ask if they can remove the debian/ directory from their tarball releases. 
There's no need to remove the debian directory from their revision control 
system (although if it's out of date they may decide to do so anyway), but at 
the very least the directory shouldn't appear in releases. If you are upstream 
yourself, well, you can ask yourself to do it.
--

So basically as long as release .tar.gz's don't include the debian/ directory, 
all should be ok.

> 
>> When I target Debian, I personally prefer adding a debian/ folder (or a way
>> to replicate it), because I want to be able to produce an official package
>> easily, and I want my users to be able to pull a revision from VCS at
>> random, and produce a package from it.
> 
> For one particular package yes but I don't think this is manageable here. It 
> would mean adding debian/ folders in gnustep svn, gap cvs, textedit git etc.

Core libraries are the most important for people to be able to start 
developing. Once core libs are set up, apps for GNUstep are trivially built.

But, if gnustep-make gets the ability to produce the debian/ folder (and .debs) 
from GNUmakefiles, like it currently produces .nsi files for NSIS, there is no 
need to add support to individual apps. Unless customization is desired.

--
Ivan Vučica
ivan@vucica.net - http://ivan.vucica.net/