+Porters may also have an unofficial location where they can put the
+results of their work during the waiting period. This helps others
+running the port have the benefit of the porter's work, even during
+the waiting period. Of course, such locations have no official
+blessing or status, so buyer, beware.
+
+
+ <sect1 id="porter-automation">
+ <heading>Porting infrastructure and automation</heading>
+ <p>
+There is infrastructure and several tools to help automate the package
+porting. This section contains a brief overview of this automation and
+porting to these tools; see the package documentation or references for
+full information.</p>
+
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>Mailing lists and web pages</heading>
+ <p>
+Web pages containing the status of each port can be found at <url
+id="&url-debian-ports;">.
+ <p>
+Each port of Debian has a mailing list. The list of porting mailing
+lists can be found at <url id="&url-debian-port-lists;">. These lists
+are used to coordinate porters, and to connect the users of a given
+port with the porters.</p>
+ </sect2>
+
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>Porter tools</heading>
+ <p>
+Descriptions of several porting tools can be found in <ref
+id="tools-porting">.</p>
+ </sect2>
+
+ <sect2 id="buildd">
+ <heading><package>buildd</package></heading>
+ <p>
+The <package>buildd</package> system is used as a distributed,
+client-server build distribution system. It is usually used in
+conjunction with <em>auto-builders</em>, which are ``slave'' hosts
+which simply check out and attempt to auto-build packages which need
+to be ported. There is also an email interface to the system, which
+allows porters to ``check out'' a source package (usually one which
+cannot yet be auto-built) and work on it.
+ <p>
+<package>buildd</package> is not yet available as a package; however,
+most porting efforts are either using it currently or planning to use
+it in the near future. The actual automated builder is packaged as
+<package>sbuild</package>, see its description in <ref id="sbuild">.
+The complete <package>buildd</package> system also collects a number of as yet unpackaged
+components which are currently very useful and in use continually,
+such as <prgn>andrea</prgn> and
+<prgn>wanna-build</prgn>.
+ <p>
+Some of the data produced by <package>buildd</package> which is
+generally useful to porters is available on the web at <url
+id="&url-buildd;">. This data includes nightly updated information
+from <prgn>andrea</prgn> (source dependencies) and
+<package>quinn-diff</package> (packages needing recompilation).
+ <p>
+We are quite proud of this system, since it has so
+many possible uses. Independent development groups can use the system for
+different sub-flavors of Debian, which may or may not really be of
+general interest (for instance, a flavor of Debian built with <prgn>gcc</prgn>
+bounds checking). It will also enable Debian to recompile entire
+distributions quickly.
+ </sect2>
+
+
+ <sect id="nmu">Non-Maintainer Uploads (NMUs)
+ <p>
+Under certain circumstances it is necessary for someone other than the
+official package maintainer to make a release of a package. This is
+called a non-maintainer upload, or NMU.
+ <p>
+Debian porters, who compile packages for different architectures,
+occasionally do binary-only NMUs as part of their porting activity
+(see <ref id="porting">). Another reason why NMUs are done is when a
+Debian developers needs to fix another developers' packages in order to
+address serious security problems or crippling bugs, especially during
+the freeze, or when the package maintainer is unable to release a fix
+in a timely fashion.
+ <p>
+This chapter contains information providing guidelines for when and
+how NMUs should be done. A fundamental distinction is made between
+source and binary-only NMUs, which is explained in the next section.
+
+ <sect1 id="nmu-terms">Terminology
+ <p>
+There are two new terms used throughout this section: ``binary-only NMU''
+and ``source NMU''. These terms are used with specific technical
+meaning throughout this document. Both binary-only and source NMUs are
+similar, since they involve an upload of a package by a developer who
+is not the official maintainer of that package. That is why it's a
+<em>non-maintainer</em> upload.
+ <p>
+A source NMU is an upload of a package by a developer who is not the
+official maintainer, for the purposes of fixing a bug in the package.
+Source NMUs always involves changes to the source (even if it is just
+a change to <file>debian/changelog</file>). This can be either a
+change to the upstream source, or a change to the Debian bits of the
+source. Note, however, that source NMUs may also include
+architecture-dependent packages, as well as an updated Debian diff.
+ <p>
+A binary-only NMU is a recompilation and upload of a binary package
+for a given architecture. As such, it is usually part of a porting
+effort. A binary-only NMU is a non-maintainer uploaded binary version
+of a package, with no source changes required. There are many cases
+where porters must fix problems in the source in order to get them to
+compile for their target architecture; that would be considered a
+source NMU rather than a binary-only NMU. As you can see, we don't
+distinguish in terminology between porter NMUs and non-porter NMUs.
+ <p>
+Both classes of NMUs, source and binary-only, can be lumped by the
+term ``NMU''. However, this often leads to confusion, since most
+people think ``source NMU'' when they think ``NMU''. So it's best to
+be careful. In this chapter, if we use the unqualified term ``NMU'',
+we refer to any type of non-maintainer upload NMUs, whether source and
+binary, or binary-only.
+
+
+ <sect1 id="nmu-who">Who can do an NMU
+ <p>
+Only official, registered Debian maintainers can do binary or source
+NMUs. An official maintainer is someone who has their key in the
+Debian key ring. Non-developers, however, are encouraged to download
+the source package and start hacking on it to fix problems; however,
+rather than doing an NMU, they should just submit worthwhile patches
+to the Bug Tracking System. Maintainers almost always appreciate
+quality patches and bug reports.
+
+
+ <sect1 id="nmu-when">When to do a source NMU
+ <p>
+Guidelines for when to do a source NMU depend on the target
+distribution, i.e., stable, unstable, or experimental. Porters have
+slightly different rules than non-porters, due to their unique
+circumstances (see <ref id="source-nmu-when-porter">).
+ <p>
+When a security bug is detected, the security team may do an NMU.
+Please refer to <ref id="bug-security"> for more information.
+ <p>
+During the release cycle (see <ref id="sec-dists">), NMUs which fix
+serious or higher severity bugs are encouraged and accepted. Even
+during this window, however, you should endeavor to reach the current
+maintainer of the package; they might be just about to upload a fix
+for the problem. As with any source NMU, the guidelines found in <ref
+id="nmu-guidelines"> need to be followed. Special exceptions are made
+for <ref id="qa-bsp">.
+ <p>
+Uploading bug fixes to unstable by non-maintainers should only be done
+by following this protocol:
+ <p>
+<list>
+ <item>
+Make sure that the package's bugs that the NMU is meant to address are all
+filed in the Debian Bug Tracking System (BTS).
+If they are not, submit them immediately.
+ <item>
+Wait a few days the response from the maintainer. If you don't get
+any response, you may want to help him by sending the patch that fixes
+the bug. Don't forget to tag the bug with the "patch" keyword.
+ <item>
+Wait a few more days. If you still haven't got an answer from the
+maintainer, send him a mail announcing your intent to NMU the package.
+Prepare an NMU as described in <ref id="nmu-guidelines">, test it
+carefully on your machine (cf. <ref id="sanitycheck">).
+Double check that your patch doesn't have any unexpected side effects.
+Make sure your patch is as small and as non-disruptive as it can be.
+ <item>
+Upload your package to incoming in <file>DELAYED/7-day</file> (cf.
+<ref id="delayed-incoming">), send the final patch to the maintainer via
+the BTS, and explain to them that they have 7 days to react if they want
+to cancel the NMU.
+ <item>
+Follow what happens, you're responsible for any bug that you introduced
+with your NMU. You should probably use <ref id="pkg-tracking-system"> (PTS)
+to stay informed of the state of the package after your NMU.
+</list>
+ <p>
+At times, the release manager or an organized group of developers can
+announce a certain period of time in which the NMU rules are relaxed.
+This usually involves shortening the period during which one is to wait
+before uploading the fixes, and shortening the DELAYED period. It is
+important to notice that even in these so-called "bug squashing party"
+times, the NMU'er has to file bugs and contact the developer first,
+and act later.
+
+ <sect1 id="nmu-guidelines">How to do a source NMU
+ <p>
+The following applies to porters insofar as they are playing the dual
+role of being both package bug-fixers and package porters. If a
+porter has to change the Debian source archive, automatically their
+upload is a source NMU and is subject to its rules. If a porter is
+simply uploading a recompiled binary package, the rules are different;
+see <ref id="porter-guidelines">.
+ <p>
+First and foremost, it is critical that NMU patches to source should
+be as non-disruptive as possible. Do not do housekeeping tasks, do
+not change the name of modules or files, do not move directories; in
+general, do not fix things which are not broken. Keep the patch as
+small as possible. If things bother you aesthetically, talk to the
+Debian maintainer, talk to the upstream maintainer, or submit a bug.
+However, aesthetic changes must <em>not</em> be made in a non-maintainer
+upload.
+
+
+ <sect2 id="nmu-version">Source NMU version numbering
+ <p>
+Whenever you have made a change to a package, no matter how trivial,
+the version number needs to change. This enables our packing system
+to function.
+ <p>
+If you are doing a non-maintainer upload (NMU), you should add a new
+minor version number to the <var>debian-revision</var> part of the
+version number (the portion after the last hyphen). This extra minor
+number will start at `1'. For example, consider the package `foo',
+which is at version 1.1-3. In the archive, the source package control
+file would be <file>foo_1.1-3.dsc</file>. The upstream version is
+`1.1' and the Debian revision is `3'. The next NMU would add a new
+minor number `.1' to the Debian revision; the new source control file
+would be <file>foo_1.1-3.1.dsc</file>.
+ <p>
+The Debian revision minor number is needed to avoid stealing one of
+the package maintainer's version numbers, which might disrupt their
+work. It also has the benefit of making it visually clear that a
+package in the archive was not made by the official maintainer.
+ <p>
+If there is no <var>debian-revision</var> component in the version
+number then one should be created, starting at `0.1'. If it is
+absolutely necessary for someone other than the usual maintainer to
+make a release based on a new upstream version then the person making
+the release should start with the <var>debian-revision</var> value
+`0.1'. The usual maintainer of a package should start their
+<var>debian-revision</var> numbering at `1'.