1 developers-reference (3.3) unstable; urgency=low
4 - French translation update to latest version
5 - Proofread by Philippe Batailler
7 - Added "ddtp" keyword in the PTS documentation.
9 - split out the doc-files per language, closes: #177448
10 - shuffled stuff around in the packages chapter
11 - added a section describing how to handle large amounts of
12 architecture-independent data bundled with programs
13 - added best practices on debian/changelog files, based on a patch
14 kindly provided by Daniel Kobras, closes: #166388
15 - described debdiff and dpkg-depcheck, and linked to them from the
16 right places in the document, closes: #172897
17 - describe the current practice in writing synopsis lines,
21 - convert to debhelper (compat mode 4); maintainer scripts no longer
23 - split -ja and -fr versions out into separate packages
24 - top-level makefile deletes targets on error
25 - replace the manual debian/control processing to show the document's
26 table of contents (TOC) with a new script 'debian/tocsubstvars';
27 note that the TOC displayed in the developers-reference-{fr,ja}
28 package descriptions are in English until UTF8 control files are
29 allowed; proper escaping of single quotes here requires newest
31 - editorial changes on the additions in this release
33 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org>
35 developers-reference (3.2.2) unstable; urgency=low
38 - slightly rewrote and updated links in the mirrors section
40 - Policy compliance checked and updated to 3.5.8, no changes needed
41 - TODO: remove some tasks which are done
42 - ship README-contrib and TODO in the doc dir
43 - Sec "Upstream home page": some revisions based on discussion on
45 - Sec "Documentation" added under Sec "Common packaging situations"
46 for best practices for documentation
47 - Add tools entries for autotools-dev, dpkg-repack, alien, debsums;
48 new Sec "Documentation and information", add entries there for
49 debview, debiandoc-sgml, debian-keyring; we believe this manual now
50 covers all of the established, general Debian maintainer tool
54 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Thu, 12 Dec 2002 13:45:23 -0500
56 developers-reference (3.2.1) unstable; urgency=low
59 - Sec "Best practices for debian/control" added, Sec "Writing useful
60 descriptions" moved under there
61 - Sec "Upstream home page" added in debian/control section
62 - Sec "Miscellaneous advice" empty, removed
63 - Sec "Overview of maintainer tools": tools now categorized into
64 subgroups; do cross-linking from this section into other parts of
65 the document where these tools are discussed
66 - Sec "Overview of maintainer tools": add entries for sbuild,
67 build-essential, linda; improved entries for pbuilder, devscripts
68 - Sec "Tools for porters" renamed and readapted to "Porting
69 infrastructure and automation"; move tool discussion down to the
70 appendix; improve Sec "buildd" a bit
71 - README-contrib added giving information for authors, contributors,
73 - eliminate the ByHand stuff, I'm pretty sure it's not needed now
74 with the DDP builder process, or if it is needed, it's a probably
75 that can be fixed by DDP folks
76 - stop shipping SGML source -- use 'apt-get source developers-reference'
77 after all, this is supposed to be a binary package, right?
78 - simply PS and PDF building rules
80 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Mon, 9 Dec 2002 03:04:19 -0500
82 developers-reference (3.2) unstable; urgency=low
85 - merged a bit misplaced lintian-reports section within the lintian
86 section and adjusted links
87 - added the missing description of dh-make and adjusted links
89 - ChangeLog attribution updates
90 - fix typos, closes: #171781
91 - expand the doc-base abstract and authors
92 - Ch "Packaging Practices" rewritten intro
93 - Sec "Packaging tools and common cases" renamed to "Best Practices
94 for debian/rules", and write an intro
95 - Sec "Helper scripts" in practices section rewritten, giving
96 arguments for and against debhelper, mostly for :)
97 - Sec "Package with multiple patches" renamed to "Patching source
98 versus patching at build time" and rewritten
99 - Sec "Multiple binary packages" rewritten
100 - Sec "Handling debconf translations" moved under an
101 "Internationalization" section, and some edits
102 - Sec "Internationalized Documentation" added under Sec
103 "Internationalization"
104 - Sec "Specific packaging practices" renamed to "Common packaging situations"
105 - Sec "Packages using autoconf/automake" rewritten
106 - Sec "Configuration management" moved forward in practices chapter
107 - Sec "Other specific packages" renamed to "Specific types of
108 packages", add info for SGML/XML and Lisp packages
109 - Sec "Writing useful descriptions" heavily edited
110 - Sec "Best practices for maintainer scripts" added, special credit
111 here to Charles Briscoe-Smith for work dating back to 1998; include
112 a POSIX shell snippet showing how to check if a command is the PATH,
114 - Apdx "Overview of Debian Maintainer Tools": remove debget, it's
115 rather useless and broken
116 - normalize up-casing on sections, which should only up-case proper
117 names and the first word
118 - new 'translation-status' script to check status of translations,
119 adapted from doc-check in boot-floppies, source pkg only --
120 oh my, French translation is 54 CVS revisions behind, and Japanese
122 - postinst: don't set /usr/doc symlink, aesthetics
123 - prerm: don't use 'command -v', it's not POSIX
124 - rules: produce md5sums file; break out a 'test' target
126 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sat, 7 Dec 2002 02:28:06 -0500
128 developers-reference (3.1.2) unstable; urgency=low
131 - DDP publishing update
133 - doc-base file includes French and Japanese files
134 - debsign invocation was slightly wrong, closes: #170523
135 - Sec "Handling debconf translations", updates from Martin Quinson
136 for po-debconf with minimal editorial changes, closes: #169007
138 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Wed, 27 Nov 2002 21:16:30 -0500
140 developers-reference (3.1.1) unstable; urgency=low
143 - updated IRC stuff, thanks to Ben Armstrong, closes: #161403
144 - fixed/updated/extended stuff about bugs, hoping to address the
145 issue of people abusing the changelog bug closing feature
147 - added myself as co-author
148 - fix a typo in Sec "Collaborative maintenance", closes: #161488
150 - updated security information, merging in Joey's stuff from the
151 Security Team FAQ and various updates and clarifications
153 - fix some bad URLs, closes: #168357
154 - fix a grammar typo, closes: #166098
156 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Tue, 12 Nov 2002 23:15:03 -0500
158 developers-reference (3.1) unstable; urgency=low
161 - Corrected several errors with —
162 - Applied patch from Peter Palfrader, correcting
163 the URL for the Debian Voting Information page. closes: #150427
164 - Applied patch from Matej Vela, dpkg-buildpackage does no more
165 require -sa for version -0.1. closes: #150861
166 - Applied the reformulations proposed by David Kimdon. closes: #150572
167 - Applied the patch of Matt Zimmerman. Thanks Matt! closes: #145287
168 - Added the explanation about how to replace an .orig.tar.gz.
170 - Mostly deleted the paragraph about security upload in the
171 section explaining source NMU. Just added a link to point to
172 "Handling security-related bugs". closes: #159935
173 - Added a link to the Technical Committee web page (in the "Bug
174 housekeeping" section). closes: #151365
175 - Explain uploads to testing-proposed-updates, mentions briefly
176 stable-security and testing-security. closes: #149666
177 Removed the comment about uploads to frozen.
178 - Documented the "Developer's packages overview" web portal.
180 - Added a reference to debian-l10n-english in "Writing useful
181 descriptions". closes: #158609
182 - Added a Best Packaging Practice section for "Packages using
183 autoconf/automake". closes: #158045
184 - Documented associated features to db.debian.org like SSH key
185 replication and *.debian.net DNS entry. closes: #155389
186 - Added a section about "Bug Squashing Parties".
188 - removed obsolete, needless dupload variables
189 - applied linguistic fixes from David Kimdon, closes: #150572
190 - random proofreading, mostly changing he -> they
191 - added people.d.o and non-us.d.o to the Debian servers section, and
192 mostly rewrote it to exclude real machine names and be better organized
193 - updated the mailing lists section
195 - debian/changelog: remove obsolete Emacs variables
196 - editorial review of the changes above, minor tagging changes,
199 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Tue, 10 Sep 2002 21:57:41 -0400
201 developers-reference (3.0) unstable; urgency=low
204 - welcome Manoj Srivastava as a co-maintainer
205 - welcome Raphael Hertzog as a co-maintainer
207 - new Chapter "Resource for Debian Developers", incorporating
209 Ch "Mailing Lists, Servers, and Other Machines"
210 Ch "The Debian Archive"
212 - new Chapter "Managing Packages", incorporating former chapters
214 Ch "Non-Maintainer Uploads (NMUs)"
215 Ch "Porting and Being Ported"
216 Ch "Moving, Removing, Renaming, Adopting, and Orphaning Packages"
217 Ch "Handling Bugs" (retitled "Handling package bugs")
218 Sec "Bug housekeeping" (new section, some parts stubbed out)
220 - new Chapter "Beyond Packaging" recommends ways to contribute
221 to Debian beyond issues of package maintenance; incoporates
222 Ch "Interaction with Prospective Developers", retitled to
223 Sec "Interacting with Prospective Debian Developers"
224 Sec "Submitting Bugs", renamed to "Reporting Bugs"
225 Sec "QA" moved here from old Sec "Quality Assurance effort"
226 Sec "Dealing with unreachable maintainers"
228 - Sec "The Developers Database" added under Resources
229 - new Sec "Collaborative Maintenance" concerning multiple maintainers
232 - Sec "Getting started": add link to New Maintainers' Guide
233 - Sec "Debian Mentors" renamed to "Debian Mentors and Sponsors",
234 we add some info on sponsoring; also in Sec "Sponsoring packages"
235 - Section's first word capitalized, rest are normal case
236 - purge a reference to the Packaging Manual; closes: #145039
237 - misc. cross-referencing with new or moved sections
238 - change some literal quotes to ‘, ”, etc.
239 - tagging improvements: replace <tt> with <file> for files and
240 directories; since <tt><var> and <example><var> doesn't look right,
241 work-around with <...>
242 - entity'ize master.debian.org, us-upload-dir, non-us-upload-dir
243 - update copyright date
244 - some simplifications on the TeX suffix rule
245 - spell check and grammar corrections
249 - changed -e by -m in the dpkg-buildpackage command line example;
251 - clarify wording between "porter upload", "binary-only NMU", "simple
252 recompile"; closes: #102626
253 - extended "removing a package"; closes: #135560
254 - Ch "Best Packaging Practices": new chapter, including new
255 Sec "Writing useful descriptions" as a first entry in that
256 chapter; closes: #53109, #129848
257 - indicate that the list of subsections is defined in the policy;
259 - removed some cruft in `Announcing package uploads'
260 - document the testing scripts; closes: #129445
261 - explain how to reassign/close bugs of removed packages;
263 - updates the note about software subject to US patents;
265 - new Section "Contacting other maintainers" under "Beyond packaging"
266 Document the package@packages.debian.org alias; closes: #114553
267 - new Section "Package's information" under Resources
268 Document http://packages.debian.org/<package>,
269 http://bugs.debian.org/<package> and the madison utility
270 - Sec "Reporting bugs": added http://bugs.debian.org/from:email@isp.com
271 - Sec "Handling bugs": added http://bugs.debian.org/login@debian.org
272 - Sec "The Incoming system" in "Resources", describe how it works and
273 also speak of the DELAYED directory; closes: #135562, #136774
275 - Sec "Developer Database": added a sentence about finger
277 - update the total number of packages and the example directory tree
279 - updated the list of available architectures.
280 - commented out the "Subsections" section since it will RSN have nothing
281 to with the Debian archive. It's just a generic information field
282 of the package and nothing more.
283 - added more incentive to use experimental since it doesn't cause
284 any pain to the ftpmasters.
285 - Sec "When to do a source NMU": updated the NMU "protocol" and suggest
286 the use of the delayed queue.
287 - new Section "Acknowledging the NMUs" to explain the need to integrate
288 the changes introduced by NMUs. Insists on the fact that one shouldn't
290 - stubbed in new Section "Collaborative maintenance"
291 - stubbed in new Section "The Package Tracking System"
292 - Sec "The Package Tracking System": filled with content from
293 Francesco Paolo Lovergine, heavily updated by myself
294 - new Section "Managing sponsored packages" contributed by
295 Francesco Paolo Lovergine, slightly updated by myself
296 - new Sec "Bug housekeeping"; closes: #39519
298 - new Sec "Documentation"
299 - added Sec "IRC channels" in the Resources chapter
300 - added Sec "pbuilder" in the appendix. Mention it in the section
301 "Being kind to porter" too
302 - extended Sec "devscripts" with info about "bts" and "uscan"
303 - completed Sec "Helper scripts"
304 - completed Sec "Package with multiple patches",
305 "Multiple binary packages", "Libraries", "Other specific packages",
306 "The wise use of debconf" -- all those are quite simplistic, they
308 - integrated Sec "Handling debconf translations" contributed by
309 Denis Barbier -- thanks, Denis!
312 - update French translation
314 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 14 Jun 2002 01:18:19 -0400
316 developers-reference (2.11) unstable; urgency=low
319 - some grammar corrections
320 - update French translation
322 - changes in upload situation, not possible to remove from Incoming
323 anymore; closes: #135559
324 - also talk about dput a tiny bit
326 - Ch "Overview of Debian Maintainer Tools":
328 - Charles Briscoe-Smith deprecates yada (I think new maintainers of
329 that would be welcome)
330 - debconf-doc mentioned for debconf
331 - debhelper: don't talk about debmake; mention how to get info on the dh-* pkgs
332 - dput: new section, closes: #129378
333 - debootstrap: new section, closes: #129377
334 - dpkg-dev-el: new section
335 - other minor wording changes
336 - Sec "Mailing Lists": where to find private archives, closes: #96780
337 - Ch "Package uploads":
338 - new Sec "Adding an entry to debian/changelog"
339 - rename Sec "Announcing new packages" to "New packages"
340 - crypto is in main, non-US is for patent restrictions, so:
341 - excise some text from "Registering as a Debian developer"
342 - changes in Sec "Uploading to ftp-master"
343 - changes in Sec "Uploading to non-US"
344 * old bugs closed out, closes: #110573
346 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 7 Apr 2002 23:34:08 -0700
348 developers-reference (2.10.0) unstable; urgency=low
350 * from Martin Michlmayr
351 - update the "Applying to Become a New Maintainer" section, with
352 review by Raphael Hertzog, closes: #133965
353 - bugs closed in NMUs should uses 'closes' changelog entries,
355 - developers are not required to subscribe to debian-private
357 - some suggestions on places to use the proper term, Debian GNU/Linux,
359 - fix some typos, closes: #133956
361 - frozen doesn't exist anymore, just testing; note, however, that
362 there is a way to upload to 'woody-proposed-updates' -- if I can
363 find some description of that, I'll document it; closes: #133948
366 - isolate a few more language-independent bits
368 - change /usr/doc to /usr/share/doc, and typo in debian/copyright,
371 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 24 Feb 2002 14:46:46 -0500
373 developers-reference (2.9.0) unstable; urgency=low
376 - created a new subsection about uploading to stable, and elaborated
378 - removed a stray sentence about stable from the paragraph about
379 security uploads (which apply to all distributions equally)
380 - replaced the nonexistent term "Security Manager" with "security officer"
381 - uploading to stable and unstable is deprecated; updated the section
382 about the experimental distribution; other fixes in the section
383 talking about uploading to distributions
384 - better organize some subsections in the section about package uploads
385 - replaced some bogus <ftppath>s with <tt>s
386 - noted how there is an upload queue on pandora, too
388 - French translation updated
390 - normalize '--' as — for prettier output
391 - integrate changes from James Troup, part of #102626
392 - typo fix thanks to Mark Hodge
394 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 21 Oct 2001 01:03:01 -0400
396 developers-reference (2.8.8) unstable; urgency=low
399 - a few more strong words about sponsoring
400 - started a new chapter about the relationship between old and new
403 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 20 Jul 2001 17:53:47 -0400
405 developers-reference (2.8.7) unstable; urgency=low
408 * fix a typo in a link
409 * dpkg-buildpackage -m<addr> flag was changed for -e<addr> when NMU'ing;
410 update documentation accordingly
412 * Matt Zimmerman fixes up some wording in the section talking about
413 forwarding bugs upstream
415 * provide proper l10n for SGML date entities; now we have &date-<LANG>
416 entities which should be used
417 * debian/rules: fixes for new debiandoc-sgml
418 * debian/control: depend on debiandoc-sgml 1.1.48 or better
420 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Thu, 21 Jun 2001 14:43:42 -0400
422 developers-reference (2.8.6) unstable; urgency=low
424 * fix a typo, thanks to Antoine Hulin
425 * French version: completely up-to-date now
426 * Makefile: add a 'validate' target
427 * prepare and ship "upstream" ChangeLog; move the debian changelog to
429 * all versions: change the email address to use when orphaning
432 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 13 Apr 2001 03:32:08 -0400
434 developers-reference (2.8.5) unstable; urgency=low
436 * expunge references to the Debian Packaging Manual, which is now in the
438 * Japanese version: also comment out some references packaging manual;
439 this translation needs updating
440 * deny request to shut down non-maintainer bug maintenance bug closure
441 practices (closes: Bug#88623)
442 * add some advice about U.S. citizens uploading to non-US
444 * debian/control: Build-Depends should have been Build-Depends-Indep
445 * French version: First complete translation of the Debian developer's
446 reference guide. Much work done by Antoine Hulin. Reviewed by Nicolas
448 * Portuguese version: work is started by Carlos Laviola, nothing
449 included yet, however
451 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 8 Apr 2001 01:25:51 -0400
453 developers-reference (2.8.4) unstable; urgency=low
455 * debian/control: remove reference to obsolete packaging-manual package
457 * debian/control: fill in the description a bit more
458 * doc-base: index.html corrected to be index.en.html
460 * Makefile: clean is cleaner
462 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 25 Feb 2001 12:47:06 -0500
464 developers-reference (2.8.3) unstable; urgency=low
466 * build and provide French and Japanese versions
467 * devolve build logic from debian/rules to top-level Makefile
468 * developers-reference.jp.sgml: minor changes so it will build (is out
470 * debian/rules: stop making useless /usr/share/developers-reference dir
472 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Mon, 22 Jan 2001 02:02:02 -0500
474 developers-reference (2.8.2) unstable; urgency=low
477 - fix typographic errors reported by David Martinez (closes: Bug#80740)
478 - common.ent: upped the numbers a little bit, updated lintian reports URL
479 - updated regarding va->klecker move, and www->people move, changed
480 most mentions of dinstall to a generic term "archive maintenance
481 software", removed full path to it because it is in PATH now,
482 mentioned "dak" and "katie" (somewhat vaguely), changed week to
483 month regarding FTP archive waiting time since that\'s more often
484 the case, and changed weeks to hours regarding Maintainers file
485 updates since that\'s also more often the case now, updated some
486 URLs to entities, s/debian-doc/doc-debian/
487 - replaced evil latin1-only quotation marks, replaced mentions of
488 important severity (in RCB context) with serious severity, some
490 - common.ent (1.10): fixed email-debian-user alias; updated
491 sample-dist-dirtree (with more to come)
492 - described testing; described package pools (this particular part
493 required quite a bit of changes, and it might be a bit rough, but
494 it's a start); described the frozen test cycles et al; some other
496 - another update WRT sid/unstable/testing, from Colin Watson
498 * debian/control: add Recommends for debian-policy, packaging-manual
499 * update copyright notice for 2001
500 * fix for WNPP bug filing severities from David Schleef
501 * clarify the status of the Developers's reference as "normative"
502 * add a reference to debconf (closes: Bug#82413)
504 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 21 Jan 2001 18:10:21 -0500
506 developers-reference (2.8.1) unstable; urgency=low
508 * update WNPP instructions, based on patch from Marcelo E. Magallon
510 * spelling corrections, awkward grammar suggestions from Andreas Krueger
512 * debian/rules: remove some obsolete source-depends stuff
514 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sat, 4 Nov 2000 13:22:21 -0500
516 developers-reference (2.8.0) unstable; urgency=low
518 * Almost all changes for this release are from Josip Rodin
519 <joy@debian.org>. Thanks, Josip!
521 * debian/control, postinst, prerm, rules: Policy 3.2.1 (closes:
522 Bug#68929, Bug#70384)
523 * fixed bug closing example (closes: Bug#71198)
524 * update the perl regexp from current /usr/lib/dpkg/parsechangelog/debian
525 * updated keyring/keyserver information (closes: Bug#67783)
526 * updated new-maintainer stuff (closes: Bug#67841)
527 * updated for master -> ftp-master move (closes: Bug#68369)
528 * noted www.d.o is the right host for web pages, but all other machines
529 could be used if necessary
530 * reorder mentions of scp to come before FTP, as it is more secure;
531 mention the rsync dupload method
532 * reorder mentions of pandora <-> non-us, canonical name non-us is
534 * other small corrections
535 * fixed orphaning/adopting instructions with regard to the new WNPP
536 * common.ent: fix urls for cvs.d.o, wnpp, Debian machines page,
537 lists-archives, www.d.o BTS
538 * common.ent: changed link for machines from devel/maintainer_contacts
540 * Makefile: remove unnecessary subshell
542 * Adam's change: update debian/copyright for new Policy, and put my name
543 in there a bit with updated years; update doc-base file for FHS
545 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 15 Oct 2000 03:25:21 -0400
547 developers-reference (2.7.2) frozen unstable; urgency=medium
549 * I believe this should go into frozen because (a) it's only
550 documentation, so it can't introduce RC bugs, and (b) it fixes an
551 error which prevented it from building properly; however, whatever
552 ftpmaster feels is best is fine
554 * include common.ent as well as version.ent
555 (closes: Bug#52582, Bug#48926)
556 * debian/rules: fix build error caused by newer debiandoc-sgml; remove
557 constitution.en.html, since that is now located in the doc-debian
558 package (closes: Bug#54778, Bug#42014); don't compress .pdf file
560 * All changes below from Raphael Hertzog <hertzog@debian.org>
562 * Sec. "Uploading to master" and "Uploading to pandora":
563 explained dinstall -n (closes: Bug#45079)
564 * Sec. "Picking a distribution": added reference to the debian-release
565 team (closes: Bug#52906)
566 * Sec. "Announcing package uploads": rewrote it to take care of the fact
567 that dinstall is doing it automatically (closes: Bug#43877)
568 * Sec. "Mailing lists": added a paragraph about debian-email
570 * Changed the "Maintaining Your Debian Information" into "Debian
571 Developer's Duties" (closes: Bug#28908)
572 - added a section about the LDAP database
573 - added a section about the "on vacation" message
574 - added a section about the coordination with upstream developers
576 - added a section about managing Release Critical bugs
577 - added a section about Quality Assurance effort
579 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 16 Apr 2000 23:24:33 -0400
581 developers-reference (2.7.1) unstable; urgency=low
583 * Sec. "Registering as a Debian developer": we are transitioning away
584 from non-free PGP -- remove allusions to non-free software such as
585 PGPv2 or v5 insofar as possible; recommend use of DSS keys rather than
587 * Sec. "Maintaining Your Public Key": remove PGP-centric stuff
588 * Sec. "When bugs are closed by new uploads": describe how to close bugs
589 via a magic changelog entry (closes: Bug#43690)
590 * Sec. "Generating the changes file": refer to Sec. "When bugs are
591 closed by new uploads" for closing bugs via a changelog entry
592 * developers-reference.sgml: re-enable RCS variables in CVS sources
593 * debian/control,rules: dynamically generate the TOC in the package
594 description from developers-reference.sgml
596 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 12 Sep 1999 18:15:59 -0400
598 developers-reference (2.7.0) unstable; urgency=low
600 * developers-reference.sgml: separated out language-independant elements
601 into common.ent (not content changes); misc minor grammar changes
603 * doc-base: change section for *constitution* to Debian (not 'debian')
605 * Sec. "Stable, unstable, and sometimes frozen": mention how old stable
606 releases are available at archive.debian.org
607 * Sec. "Uploading to pandora (non-us)" added, remove stale
608 information about the old anonymous ftp area (closes Bug#39541);
609 Sec. "Other Upload Queues" added about that upload queues, added
610 samosa and master.debian.org.jp (closes Bug#37804)
611 * Sec. "Yada": mention that yada might not be as robust as other package
612 producing systems, at request of the author; Sec. "equivs" added
613 * Sec. "Moving packages": at the request of Guy Maor, clarify that this
614 procedure is for moving packages in sections (i.e., free, contrib)
616 * Sec. "Registering as a Debian developer": talk about RSA keys rather
617 than PGP keys, since I think GPG can create/handle them now; mention
618 that the official pkg maintainer address much match an ID on your key;
619 * Sec. "Maintaining Your Public Key": beef up the warnings a bit; point
621 * Sec. "Mailing Lists, Servers, and Other Machines": clean up and
622 clarify section; mention that all developers are expected to be
623 subscribed to debian-private and debian-devel-announce
624 * Sec. "Other Debian Machines": remove list of machines; point to
625 http://www.debian.org/devel/machines instead
626 * Sec. "Release code names": potato is 2.2
627 * Sec. "Guidelines for Porter Uploads": talk about recompile only
628 uploads and version numbers for this (i.e., foo_2.4-1.0.1), from a
629 suggestion from James Troup
630 * Sec. "buildd": mention andrea, and buildd.debian.org
631 * Sec. "Removing packages": correct apt-cache usage
632 * debain/rules: update standards to 3.0.1 -- since I'm not moving
633 /usr/doc to /usr/share/doc yet, no changes were required except in the
636 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Mon, 16 Aug 1999 23:29:45 -0400
638 developers-reference (2.6.8) unstable; urgency=low
640 * when applying as a new user, the login name can be *eight* characters,
641 not seven (thanks to Rafael Caetano dos Santos)
643 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 21 May 1999 21:50:04 -0400
645 developers-reference (2.6.7) unstable; urgency=low
647 * SGML'ish: normalize SGML elements, refill paragraphs (closes Bug#37987)
648 * doc-base: change section to Debian -- hmm, this looks like a doc-base
649 bug, really, but hey, who am I to refile bugs to another one of my own
650 packages? (closes Bug#37392)
651 * Ch. "Overview of Debian Maintainer Tools": new section for yada (um,
652 someone who uses this should check my description), correct build ->
653 debuild in the devscripts section (closes Bug#38053)
655 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 21 May 1999 01:41:45 -0400
657 developers-reference (2.6.6) unstable; urgency=low
659 * Sec. "The master server": note that problems on Debian ftp can be sent
660 to ftpmaster@debian.org also
661 * Secs. "Uploads via chiark" and "Uploads via erlangen": remove
662 'cron-driven' (thanks Roman Hodek)
663 * Sec. "Being Kind to Porters": typos corrected, note that binary-arch
664 and binary-indep targets should work independantly (thanks Roman
666 * Sec. "buildd": remove erroneous reference to debbuild, reorganize the
667 section and correct typos (thank again Roman -- boy, this is the all
669 * debian/rules: re-enable letter-sized PDFs
671 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 9 May 1999 01:17:29 -0400
673 developers-reference (2.6.5) unstable; urgency=low
675 * Sec. "Architectures": correction on supported architecture in Linux
677 * Sec. "Experimental": other reasons to use or not use the experiment
678 archive "section", from comments by Guy Maor
679 * Sec. "Being Kind to Porters": replace x86 with i386 (closes Bug#36485)
680 * debian/rules: date printing protected from local l10n (closes Bug#36891)
681 * Ch. "Mailing Lists, Servers, and Other Machines": renamed chapter; add
683 * Sec. "Debian Servers": new, for talking about the standard servers,
684 with intro; demoted server sections under that
685 * Sec. "The FTP servers": was empty, removed
686 * Sec. "The master server": fill in more info and cross-refs on how to
688 * Sec. "The CVS server": add some more detail which should be included
689 when requesting cvs areas; mention the cvsweb URL
690 * Sec. "Other Debian Machines": new section, list the machines for which
691 a normal developer may have access.
693 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Tue, 4 May 1999 03:32:21 -0400
695 developers-reference (2.6.4) unstable; urgency=low
697 * debian/rules: hack 'byhand' file entries to include debian version
698 number in it, so subsequent uploads of the package into Incoming don't
699 step all over each other
701 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 9 Apr 1999 20:04:04 -0400
703 developers-reference (2.6.3) unstable; urgency=low
705 * correction from James Troup -- <keyring-maint> is indeed the correct
706 address for PGP key updates
708 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 4 Apr 1999 13:28:58 -0400
710 developers-reference (2.6.2) unstable; urgency=low
712 * Sec. "fakeroot": libtricks is not replacing anything after all
713 * developers-reference.sgml: use public declaration
714 * BTW, if any maintainers of translated versions of this document would
715 like to talk to me about folding your version into the
716 developers-reference CVS area, please get in touch with me
718 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 4 Apr 1999 04:42:29 -0400
720 developers-reference (2.6.1) unstable; urgency=low
722 * include Debian constitution (closes Bug#30694)
723 * Sec. "fakeroot": libtricks is replacing fakeroot, not libtool
724 * Sec. "Maintaining Your Public Key" -- give email addresses as
725 {pgp,gpg}-update@debian.org, at James Troup's request (note to Jameas,
726 if you see this: /usr/doc/debian-keyring/README.gz talks about
727 <keyring-maint> instead)
728 * Ch. "Overview of Debian Maintainer Tools" -- add Sec. "debget"
729 * developers-reference.sgml: minor typo correction from Tril
731 * doc-base stuff: add abstract to developers-reference, new file for
733 * debian/rules: minor cleanup and consistency; build PDF, not PS file;
734 ship PDF file;.text file now has .txt extension
735 * debian/control: set priority to optional, matching archive
737 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sat, 3 Apr 1999 17:17:06 -0500
739 developers-reference (2.6.0) frozen unstable; urgency=low
741 * would be nice to sneak this into slink; it's just documentation!
742 * Ch. "Porting and Being Ported": porter information broken out into it's
743 own chapter, Sec. "Guidelines for Porter Uploads" and "When to do a
744 source NMU if you are a porter" moved to this chapter; porter tool
745 descriptions such as 'quinn-diff' moved to this section. Sec. "Being
746 Kind to Porters" added, with tips for how to avoid making problems for
748 * Ch. "Non-Maintainer Uploads (NMUs)": update for the new chapter, and
749 tighten up the language a bit
750 * Sec. "Monitoring bugs": add a little cron job to get an 'index maint'
751 of outstanding bugs (closes Bug#31259), loosen language a tiny bit
752 w.r.t. non-maintainers or submitters closing bugs (closes Bug#30394)
753 * Sec. "Scope of This Document": point out that this file is not
755 * Ch. "Handling Bugs": renamed from "Handling Bug Reports", incorporate
756 some suggestions from James Troup, namely, don't mail from your root
757 account, don't close bugs via control@bugs.debian.org; break out new
758 sections, "Submitting Bugs" and "Responding to Bugs"
759 * Ch. "Overview of Debian Maintainer Tools": remove attribution for
760 package maintainers, since I can't keep up; add entries for fakeroot
762 * Ch. "Maintaining Your Debian Information": new chapter, quite small
763 right now; it mentions keyring-maint@debian.org for key modification,
764 warns against putting private keys on multi-user machines, and talks
765 about how to depart Debian gracefully
766 * typo correction from Christian Hudon (closes Bug#32052)
767 * menu file removed, obsoleted by doc-base file
768 * parameterize some often-changing values with SGML entities, update
769 number of available packages
770 * use new way of notating multiple copyrights
771 * change <tt> elements to <file> where appropriate
773 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Thu, 11 Feb 1999 02:53:55 -0500
775 developers-reference (2.5.0.5) unstable; urgency=low
777 * add version.ent to docdir, needed to reconstruct from SGML
780 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Tue, 29 Dec 1998 02:42:50 -0500
782 developers-reference (2.5.0.4) unstable; urgency=low
784 * not officially released
785 * more spelling corrections
786 * s/ppc/powerpc/ (thanks, James Troup)
788 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 18 Dec 1998 00:07:40 -0500
790 developers-reference (2.5.0.3) unstable; urgency=low
792 * not officially released
793 * Sec. "Removing a package from Incoming": tiny section added
794 * some PGP-centricity removed
795 * Sec. "Adopting a package": point out that hijacking packages is not ok
796 * Ch. "Non-Maintainer Uploads (NMUs) and Porters": change 'NMU' to
797 'source NMU', 'port' to 'binary NMU', shorten the window for porters a
798 tad; fix spelling; stress that non-maintainer patches must be
799 non-disruptive and that aesthetic issues are not suitable for fixing
800 by non-maintainers; other fixes as suggested by interested parties
802 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Wed, 25 Nov 1998 00:01:27 -0500
804 developers-reference (2.5.0.2) frozen unstable; urgency=low
806 * not officially released
807 * maintainer name change (but it's still me)
808 * Ch. "Non-Maintainer Uploads (NMUs) and Porters": new chapter
809 discussing NMUs and porters; Section "Interim Releases" integrated out
810 of existance. New TOC for this section is:
811 * 6 Non-Maintainer Uploads (NMUs) and Porters
812 + 6.1 Who can do a port or an NMU
813 + 6.2 When to do a port or an NMU
814 o 6.2.1 When to do an NMU if you are a porter
815 + 6.3 How to do an NMU
816 o 6.3.1 NMU version numbering
817 o 6.3.2 NMUs must create a changelog entry
818 o 6.3.3 NMUs must send patches, if any, to the BTS
819 o 6.3.4 Building the NMU
820 + 6.4 Guidelines for Porters
822 * Sec. "Maintainer changes": renamed to "Adopting a package" and moved
823 to Chapter "Moving, Removing, Renaming, Adopting, and Orphaning
825 * Sec. "Reporting lots of bugs at once": more forcefully deprecate this
827 * Sec. "Adopting a package": mention that the BTS maintainer update can
828 take a couple of weeks
829 * Sec. "Overview of Debian Maintainer Tools": give credit where credit
830 is due and attribute current maintainers; add `apt'; add `quinn-diff';
831 add mention of as yet unreleased 'buildd' package, since I'm so
832 excited about it and can't wait
833 * Sec. "Removing packages": talk about how apt-cache can be used to look
834 at reverse depends, a good step to take prior to removing a package
836 * show *full* TOC, including sect2
837 * of course the obligatory typo, grammar, and spelling corrections
839 * Makefile: small changes to accomodate DDP autobuild
840 * debian/dirs: obsolete, removed
841 * debian/rules: use changelog date for SGML timestamping, not current date
843 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 20 Nov 1998 12:27:53 -0500
845 developers-reference (2.5.0) frozen unstable; urgency=low
847 * move to 3-level version number:
848 top-level version number probably won't change for a while, it is the
849 "major", the second-level number means significant content changes,
850 and the third-level change means corrections and minor improvements.
851 Since this version has significant content changes, we are now 2.5.0.
852 Since I'm going to put porter instructions in the next major rev, that
855 * use new <package> tag where appropriate (Ardo, you rock)
856 * replace 'm86k' with 'm68k'
857 * rename 'Whirlwind Tour of ...' section to 'Overview of ...' (suggested
859 * typos and "red-pen" corrections, fix cosmetic problems in PostScript
861 * remove the one case I use an URL fragment identifier, since
862 debiandoc-sgml doesn't like it (bug filed against debiandoc-sgml)
863 * debian/rules: cosmetic cleanups, loosen check for root
864 * debian/rules: build PostScript version during build, since it's nice
865 to have all my debiandoc2* scripts together
866 * debian/control: policy compliant to 2.5.0
868 * advise against uploading when a package has lintian problems of
870 * "Mailing Lists and Servers":
871 - "The master server": mention how master is the home of the BTS;
872 mention how users need to take care with their accounts on master
873 - "The WWW servers": fill in www.debian.org, first pass, and discuss
874 how to put up your own web pages on va or master
875 - "The CVS server": new section added
876 - "Mirrors of Debian servers": new section added; point to info about
878 * "Applying to Become a Maintainer": do not advise resending initial
879 application; instead, simply mail a followup asking new maintainers
880 whether they go the initial application (closes Bug #28739); mention
881 that calls usually come in the evening; mention that if you use PGP
882 v5, you need to generate an RSA key (right?); clarify our intentions
884 * "Release code names": Debian 2.2 is 'potato'
885 * "Distribution directories": give concrete examples, hopefully making
886 it clearer where to look in Debian archives for specific stuff;
887 mention that old distributions are moved to archive servers (is there
888 a canonical location?)
889 * "The override file": new section, added under "Notification that a new
890 package has been installed"; fill it out quite a bit
891 * "Uploading to *": reiterate thrice not to upload export
892 controlled-software to master, or the European queues on erlangen and
894 * "Picking a distribution": section broken out from "Generating the
896 * "Uploading to frozen": new section, almost straight from Brian White
897 (hope you don't mind!) -- isn't that topical?
898 * "Interim releases": if you NMU a new upstream version (0.1), run
899 'dpkg-buildpackage -sa'
901 -- Adam P. Harris <aph@debian.org> Thu, 12 Nov 1998 00:03:43 -0500
903 developers-reference (2.4.1.5) unstable; urgency=low
905 * Fix instructions for new maintainers, incorporating the actual text
906 sent to prospective new maintainers. Improve this text a bit for
907 readability, coverage, and organization. Significant changes were
908 patched back to the new-maintainers group, if they care to use
909 them. (closes Bug#26948)
910 * Add an introductory "Scope" chapter which helps delineate what should
911 and should not be included in this Reference.
912 * Add a new chapter, "Whirlwind Tour of Debian Maintainer Tools". Let
913 me know what useful tools I forgot -- remember, Debian-specific
914 maintainer tools only!
915 * Add discussion of the "experimental" distribution, culled from an email
916 from Guy Maor on debian-devel.
917 * Incorporated suggestions from Branden Robinson (closes Bug#27211).
918 * Point to doc-debian's mailing list instructions where relevant.
919 * Made references to online documentation into URLs where possible.
920 * Little corrections here and there.
921 * add a Makefile for use in the DDP manual hierarchy
922 * debian/rules: comment out my 'source-depends' hack; it's just slowing
925 -- Adam P. Harris <aph@debian.org> Thu, 1 Oct 1998 03:42:43 -0400
927 developers-reference (2.4.1.4) unstable; urgency=low
929 * fill in Section "The master server" a bit; other servers to follow
930 * in Section "Distribution directories", mention that distributions
931 are always in 'dists' subdir of the Debian archive; talk about
933 * in Section "Release code names", talk about 'sid' a bit
934 * in Section "Interim releases", talk about how non-maintainers should
935 use the BTS, and bug severity "fixed" (closes Bug#17524)
936 * in Section "Generating the changes file", talk about how to set the
937 distribution in the debian/changelog file (i.e., "frozen unstable")
938 * add a new Section "Checking the package prior to upload" to Section
939 "Uploading a package", mentioning lintian and other tests one should
940 do prior to uploading
941 * add new Section "Notification that a new package has been installed"
942 in Section "Uploading a package", talking about dinstall and the
944 * add new Sections "Moving packages", "Removing packages", "Replacing or
945 renaming packages", and "Orphaning a package" (closes Bug#26650)
946 * add new Section "Bugs in your packages", talking about maintainer
947 duties with respect to bugs
948 * add new Section "Lintian reports" under "Handling bugs reports",
949 talking about how maintainers should check their packages with lintian
950 every now and then, alternatively pointing them to the lintian web
952 * clarify, a bit, the use of "section" and "subsection", bringing it
953 into line with the usage in the Policy Manual and Packaging Manual
954 * grammar and markup changes throughout
955 * debian/rules: added a crude source-depends rule, which renders more
956 explicit what is used to build this package
958 -- Adam P. Harris <aph@debian.org> Mon, 21 Sep 1998 00:51:46 -0400
960 developers-reference (2.4.1.3) unstable; urgency=low
963 * version number and date are automatically populated now
964 * changed doc-base section to "debian"
965 * debian/rules: better abstraction and organization
966 * reformat SGML like I happen to like it
967 * utilize the new URL tag
968 * build PostScript on letter size, I hear thats better for A4 and US
971 -- Adam P. Harris <aph@debian.org> Thu, 16 Jul 1998 00:52:35 -0400
973 developers-reference (2.4.1.2) frozen unstable; urgency=low
975 * non-maintainer release
976 * rebuilt since HTML versions of Chapters 1 and 2 were truncated
977 (important bug, no number yet, bugs.debian.org isn't working;
978 regardless, this should go in hamm because a broken developers
979 reference won't win us many friends in hamm, and after all, it's just
980 text, it can't hurt you.)
981 * no content changes, except that the version number in the SGML file
982 reflect this packages version number
983 * debian/rule: clean is cleaner now
985 -- Adam P. Harris <aph@debian.org> Tue, 16 Jun 1998 01:35:39 -0400
987 developers-reference (2.4.1.1) frozen unstable; urgency=low
991 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Thu, 14 May 1998 21:56:36 +0200
993 developers-reference (2.4.1.0) frozen unstable; urgency=low
995 * New version numbering scheme:
997 - The version numbers are independent of dpkg now, but all policy
998 manuals (the Debian Policy Manual, the Debian Packaging Manual, and
999 the Debian Developer's Reference) share the same version numbering
1002 - The first three digits of the version number specify the
1003 `Standards-Version.' This number is incremented with each policy
1004 change. The fourth digit represents the `patch-level,' which may
1005 differ between the manuals.
1007 If only the patch-level digit is incremented, no changes in policy
1008 have been made, except bug fixes and clarifications. Packages only
1009 have to specify the first three digits of the version number in the
1010 `Standards-Version' field of their source packages.
1012 * Uploaded to frozen and unstable. This is a documentation-only
1013 package and the changes to the manual are relevant for hamm.
1015 * No changes to the Developer's Reference
1017 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Mon, 13 Apr 1998 17:54:43 +0200
1019 developers-reference (0.5) unstable; urgency=low
1021 * Changes to the Developer's Reference:
1023 - Changed section 1.2 Registering as a Debian developer:
1024 + signatures from formal certification service are _NOT_ accepted
1026 + images of ID documents have to be PGP or RSA signed
1027 (as requested by James Troup)
1029 - Use current date instead of <date> in manual
1031 * Updated FSF's address (reported by Lintian)
1033 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Sat, 7 Mar 1998 13:52:15 +0100
1035 developers-reference (0.4) unstable; urgency=low
1037 * Changes to the Developer's Reference:
1039 - Renamed chapter 4 into `Package uploads'
1041 - New section 4.2.5 Uploading to the non-us server
1043 - Changed section 4.4 Interim releases:
1044 + non-maintainer releases should not close bugs
1045 + normal maintainer must at least read the patch provided with
1046 the non-maintainer release
1048 - New chapter 5 Handling bug reports:
1049 + when reporting more then 10 bugs on the same topic, a message
1050 has to be sent to debian-devel and the `maintonly' address
1053 - Lots of typos fixed
1055 * Compressed SGML source code
1057 * Added support for doc-base to register the Developer's Reference
1058 to the online documentation systems dwww and dhelp
1060 * Upgraded to standards version 2.4.0.0 (no changes)
1062 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Fri, 30 Jan 1998 21:58:34 +0100
1064 developers-reference (0.3) unstable; urgency=low
1066 * Put lost sections from Policy Manual 2.1.3.3 back in:
1067 - Generating the changes file (for uploads)
1068 - Announcing package uploads
1069 * New section about Debian Mentors
1070 * debian/rules: Don't use debstd anymore
1071 * debian/rules: Compress changelog file (fixes:#15441)
1072 * Fixed link to WNPP list (fixes:#16201)
1073 * Added menu entry (fixes:#15708)
1075 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Wed, 24 Dec 1997 13:54:33 +0100
1077 developers-reference (0.2) unstable; urgency=low
1079 * New chapter about `The Debian Archive' describing the structure
1080 of our FTP server and the development process
1081 * Added note that new maintainers have to read the Social Contract
1082 and have to know where to find the Policy and Packaging Manuals
1083 * PGP key ring is not distributed via dpkg but in doc/ of the FTP
1085 * Added note that cross posting between Debian lists is depreciated
1086 * New list of advantages why new packages should be discussed on
1087 debian-devel before they are uploaded
1088 * Added section about how packages are uploaded
1089 * Added note that the Security Managers may do interim releases without
1090 contacting the maintainer
1091 * Removed chapter about bug tracking system (will be included in
1092 a new manual released soon)
1093 * Some minor changes
1094 * Include SGML source in package
1095 * Don't use `2-up' style for PostScript version
1096 * Upgraded to Standards 2.3.0.1
1098 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Sun, 2 Nov 1997 20:53:26 +0100
1100 developers-reference (0.1) unstable; urgency=low
1104 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Tue, 8 Jul 1997 00:19:49 +0200