X-Git-Url: http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/ucgi/~ianmdlvl/git?a=blobdiff_plain;ds=sidebyside;f=developers-reference.sgml;h=cd1afddb347d697430027bdb87dc2786e2936cea;hb=8c24b8b229c9942ba4d27829d3a96ad68a6a7759;hp=f45f7f67be44dd045559eecd800145dea077b56a;hpb=62dfc977a8d09fda8b2ea98f42ef9dcc8aafae01;p=developers-reference.git diff --git a/developers-reference.sgml b/developers-reference.sgml index f45f7f6..cd1afdd 100644 --- a/developers-reference.sgml +++ b/developers-reference.sgml @@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ %commondata; - + @@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
A copy of the GNU General Public License is available as &file-GPL; in
-the Debian GNU/Linux distribution or on the World Wide Web at
+When you know how you want to contribute to &debian-formal;, you
+should get in contact with existing Debian maintainers who are working
+on similar tasks. That way, you can learn from experienced developers.
+For example, if you are interested in packaging existing software for
+Debian you should try to get a sponsor. A sponsor will work together
+with you on your package and upload it to the Debian archive once he
+is happy with the packaging work you have done. You can find a sponsor
+by mailing the &email-debian-mentors; mailing list, describing your
+package and yourself and asking for a sponsor (see
+for more information on sponsoring). On the other hand, if you are
+interested in porting Debian to alternative architectures or kernels
+you can subscribe to port specific mailing lists and ask there how to
+get started. Finally, if you are interested in documentation or
+Quality Assurance (QA) work you can join maintainers already working on
+these tasks and submit patches and improvements.
+
-Before you decide to register with the Debian Project, you will need
-to read the
The process of registering as a developer is a process of verifying
-your identity and intentions. As the number of people working on
-Debian GNU/Linux has grown to over &number-of-maintainers; people and
-our systems are used in several very important places we have to be
-careful about being compromised. Therefore, we need to verify new
-maintainers before we can give them accounts on our servers and
-letting them upload packages.
-
-Registration requires that the following information be sent in
-appropriate steps described at
+Before you actually register you should have shown that you can do
+competent work and will be a good contributor. You can show this by
+submitting patches through the Bug Tracking System or having a package
+sponsored by an existing maintainer for a while. Also, we expect that
+contributors are interested in the whole project and not just in
+maintaining their own packages. If you can help other maintainers by
+providing further information on a bug or even a patch, then do so!
+
+Registration requires that you are familiar with Debian's philosophy
+and technical documentation. Furthermore, you need a GPG key which
+has been signed by an existing Debian maintainer. If your GPG key
+is not signed yet, you should try to meet a Debian maintainer in
+person to get your key signed. There's a
If you do not have an OpenPGP key yet, generate one. Every developer
needs a OpenPGP key in order to sign and verify package uploads. You
@@ -187,7 +185,7 @@ or high-powered spy techniques. See for more
information on maintaining your public key.
Debian uses the
-Also remember that one of the names on your key must match the email
-address you list as the official maintainer for your packages. For
-instance, I set the maintainer of the
-
If your public key isn't on public key servers such as &pgp-keyserv;,
please read the documentation available locally in &file-keyservs;.
That document contains instructions on how to put your key on the
@@ -222,33 +213,33 @@ Some countries restrict the use of cryptographic software by their
citizens. This need not impede one's activities as a Debian package
maintainer however, as it may be perfectly legal to use cryptographic
products for authentication, rather than encryption purposes (as is
-the case in France). The Debian Project does not require the use of
+the case in France). &debian-formal; does not require the use of
cryptography qua cryptography in any manner. If you live in a
country where use of cryptography even for authentication is forbidden
then please contact us so we can make special arrangements.
-Once you have all your information ready, and your public key is
-available on public key servers, send a message to
-&email-new-maintainer; to register as an offical Debian developer so
-that you will be able to upload your packages. This message must
-contain your name and your valid e-mail address. All the information
-discussed above is required after your Application Manager is
-assigned. Application Manager is your agent in the registration
-process, and you can always ask him about the status of your
-application. You can check the
+When you have found an advocate, have your GPG key signed and have
+already contributed to Debian for a while, you're ready to apply.
+You can simply register on our
For more details, please consult
-Once this information is received and processed, you should be
-contacted with information about your new Debian maintainer account.
-If you don't hear anything within a month, please send a followup
-message asking if your original application was received. Do
-not re-send your original application, that will just confuse
-the New Maintainer Group. Please be patient, especially near release
-points; mistakes do occasionally happen, and people do sometimes run
-out of volunteer time.
+Maintainer's Corner"> at the Debian web site. Make sure that you
+are familiar with the necessary steps of the New Maintainer process
+before actually applying. If you are well prepared, you can save
+a lot of timer later on.
You have to keep the information available there up to date.
@@ -309,10 +300,14 @@ you're on vacation.
In order to inform the other developers, there's two things that you should do.
First send a mail to &email-debian-private; giving the period of time when
you will be on vacation. You can also give some special instructions on what to
-do if any problem occurs. Next you should update your information
+do if any problem occurs. Be aware that some people don't care for vacation
+notices and don't want to read them; you should prepend "[VAC] " to the
+subject of your message so that it can be easily filtered.
+
+Next you should update your information
available in the Debian LDAP database and mark yourself as ``on vacation''
(this information is only accessible to debian developers). Don't forget
-to remove the ``on vacation'' flag when you come back.
+to remove the ``on vacation'' flag when you come back!
@@ -364,6 +359,22 @@ id="orphaning">). Alternatively, you may ask the help of other people
in order to catch up the backlog of bugs that you have (you can ask
for help on &email-debian-qa; or &email-debian-devel;).
+
+If you notice that a package is lacking maintenance, you should
+make sure the maintainer is active and will continue to work on
+his packages. Try contacting him yourself.
+
+If you do not get a reply after a few weeks you should collect all
+useful information about this maintainer. Start by logging into
+the
+Send all this information to &email-debian-qa;, in order to let the
+QA people do whatever is needed.
+
If you choose to leave the Debian project, you should make sure you do
@@ -407,8 +418,8 @@ The following are the core Debian mailing lists: &email-debian-devel;,
&email-debian-policy;, &email-debian-user;, &email-debian-private;,
&email-debian-announce;, and &email-debian-devel-announce;. All
developers are expected to be subscribed to at least
-&email-debian-private; and &email-debian-devel-announce;. There are
-other mailing lists are available for a variety of special topics; see
+&email-debian-devel-announce;. There are
+other mailing lists available for a variety of special topics; see
@@ -417,7 +428,10 @@ discussions amongst Debian developers. It is meant to be used for
posts which for whatever reason should not be published publically.
As such, it is a low volume list, and users are urged not to use
&email-debian-private; unless it is really necessary. Moreover, do
-not forward email from that list to anyone.
+not forward email from that list to anyone. Archives of this
+list are not available on the web for obvious reasons, but you can see
+them using your shell account master.debian.org and looking
+in the
&email-debian-email; is a special mailing list used as a grab-bag
for Debian related correspondence such as contacting upstream authors
@@ -558,7 +572,7 @@ id="&url-devel-machines;">.
-The Debian GNU/Linux distribution consists of a lot of Debian packages
+The &debian-formal; distribution consists of a lot of Debian packages
(.deb's, currently around &number-of-pkgs;) and a few
additional files (documentation, installation disk images, etc.).
@@ -597,10 +611,11 @@ further into subsections.
The main section of the Debian archive is what makes up the
-official Debian GNU/Linux distribution.
-The main section is official because it fully complies with
-all our guidelines. The other two sections do not, to different degrees;
-as such, they are not officially part of Debian GNU/Linux.
+official &debian-formal; distribution. The
+main section is official because it fully complies with all
+our guidelines. The other two sections do not, to different degrees;
+as such, they are not officially part of
+&debian-formal;.
Every package in the main section must fully comply with the
-Debian GNU/Linux 1.3 is only available as i386. Debian 2.0
+&debian-formal; 1.3 is only available as i386. Debian 2.0
shipped for i386 and m68k architectures. Debian 2.1
ships for the i386, m68k, alpha, and
sparc architectures. Debian 2.2 adds support for the
@@ -722,9 +737,9 @@ the header information from all those packages. The former are kept in the
directory of the archive (because of backwards compatibility).
-
-There is always a distribution called stable (residing in
+There are always distributions called stable (residing in
dists/stable), one called testing (residing in
dists/testing), and one called unstable (residing in
dists/unstable). This reflects the development process of the
@@ -740,85 +755,84 @@ sometimes ``unstable.''
Packages get copied from unstable to testing if they
satisfy certain criteria. To get into testing distribution, a
-package needs to be in the archive for two weeks and not have any release
-critical bugs. After that period, it will propagate into testing
-as soon as anything it depends on is also added. This process is automatic.
+package needs to be in the archive for two weeks and not have any
+release critical bugs. After that period, it will propagate into
+testing as soon as anything it depends on is also added. This
+process is automatic. You can see some notes on this system as well
+as update_excuses (describing which packages are valid
+candidates, which are not, and why not) at
After a period of development, once the release manager deems fit, the
-testing distribution is renamed to frozen. Once
-that has been done, no changes are allowed to that distribution except
-bug fixes; that's why it's called ``frozen.'' After another month or
-a little longer, depending on the progress, the frozen distribution
+testing distribution is frozen, meaning that the policies
+which control how packages move from unstable to testing are
+tightened. Packages which are too buggy are removed. No changes are
+allowed into testing except for bug fixes. After some time
+has elapsed, depending on progress, the testing distribution
goes into a `deep freeze', when no changes are made to it except those
-needed for the installation system. This is called a ``test cycle'', and it
-can last up to two weeks. There can be several test cycles, until the
-distribution is prepared for release, as decided by the release manager.
-At the end of the last test cycle, the frozen distribution is
-renamed to stable, overriding the old stable distribution,
-which is removed at that time.
+needed for the installation system. This is called a ``test cycle'',
+and it can last up to two weeks. There can be several test cycles,
+until the distribution is prepared for release, as decided by the
+release manager. At the end of the last test cycle, the
+testing distribution is renamed to stable,
+overriding the old stable distribution, which is removed at
+that time (although it can be found at &archive-host;).
This development cycle is based on the assumption that the
unstable distribution becomes stable after passing a
-period of testing as frozen. Even once a distribution is
-considered stable, a few bugs inevitably remain &mdash that's why the stable
-distribution is updated every now and then. However, these updates are
-tested very carefully and have to be introduced into the archive
-individually to reduce the risk of introducing new bugs. You can find
-proposed additions to stable in the proposed-updates
-directory. Those packages in proposed-updates that pass
-muster are periodically moved as a batch into the stable distribution
-and the revision level of the stable distribution is incremented
-(e.g., `1.3' becomes `1.3r1', `2.0r2' becomes `2.0r3', and so forth).
+period of being in testing. Even once a distribution is
+considered stable, a few bugs inevitably remain &mdash that's why the
+stable distribution is updated every now and then. However, these
+updates are tested very carefully and have to be introduced into the
+archive individually to reduce the risk of introducing new bugs. You
+can find proposed additions to stable in the
+proposed-updates directory. Those packages in
+proposed-updates that pass muster are periodically moved as a
+batch into the stable distribution and the revision level of the
+stable distribution is incremented (e.g., `1.3' becomes `1.3r1',
+`2.0r2' becomes `2.0r3', and so forth).
Note that development under unstable continues during the
``freeze'' period, since the unstable distribution remains in
-place when the testing is moved to frozen.
-Another wrinkle is that when the frozen distribution is
-offically released, the old stable distribution is completely removed
-from the Debian archives (although they do live on at
-archive-host;).
-
-In summary, there is always a stable, a testing and an
-unstable distribution available, and a frozen distribution
-shows up for a couple of months from time to time.
-
+place in parallel with testing.
The experimental distribution is a specialty distribution.
It is not a full distribution in the same sense as `stable' and
`unstable' are. Instead, it is meant to be a temporary staging area
for highly experimental software where there's a good chance that the
-software could break your system. Users who download and install
+software could break your system, or software that's just too unstable
+even for the unstable distribution (but there is a reason to
+package it nevertheless). Users who download and install
packages from experimental are expected to have been duly
warned. In short, all bets are off for the experimental
distribution.
-Developers should be very selective in the use of the
-experimental distribution. Even if a package is highly
-unstable, it could still go into unstable; just state a
-few warnings in the description. However, if there is a chance that
-the software could do grave damage to a system, it might be better to
-put it into experimental.
-
+If there is a chance that the software could do grave damage to a system,
+it is likely to be better to put it into experimental.
For instance, an experimental compressed file system should probably go
-into experimental. A new, beta, version of some software
-which uses completely different configuration might go into
-experimental at the maintainer's discretion. New software
-which isn't likely to damage your system can go into
-unstable. If you are working on an incompatible or complex
-upgrade situation, you can also use experimental as a staging
-area, so that testers can get early access.
-
-However, using experimental as a personal staging area is not
-always the best idea, especially with transient packages. For
-example, you cannot delete packages which have been uploaded to
-experimental on your own; that must be done by the Debian
-archive maintainers. An alternative is to use your personal web space
-on klecker.debian.org, a.k.a. people.debian.org.
+into experimental.
+
+Whenever there is a new upstream version of a package that introduces new
+features but breaks a lot of old ones, it should either not be uploaded, or
+be uploaded to experimental. A new, beta, version of some software
+which uses completely different configuration can go into
+experimental, at the maintainer's discretion. If you are working
+on an incompatible or complex upgrade situation, you can also use
+experimental as a staging area, so that testers can get early
+access.
+
+Some experimental software can still go into unstable, with a few
+warnings in the description, but that isn't recommended because packages
+from unstable are expected to propagate to testing and
+thus to stable.
+
+New software which isn't likely to damage your system can go directly into
+unstable.
+
+An alternative to experimental is to use your personal web space
+on people.debian.org (klecker.debian.org).
Please include a Closes: bug#nnnnn entry on the
@@ -914,11 +928,38 @@ better feel of what is going on, and what is new, in the project.
+
+Before you upload your package, you should do basic testing on it. At
+a minimum, you should try the following activities (you'll need to
+have an older version of the same Debian package around):
+
+Normally, a package should not be uploaded if it causes lintian
+to emit errors (they will start with E).
+
+For more information on
When a package is uploaded to the Debian FTP archive, it must be
accompanied by a .changes file, which gives directions to the
@@ -933,29 +974,10 @@ All of these fields are mandatory for a Debian upload. See the list
of control fields in the
-Notably, the Distribution field, which originates from the
-
-You should avoid combining `stable' with others because of potential
-problems with library dependencies (for your package and for the package
-built by the build daemons for other architecture).
-See for more information on when and how to
-upload to stable.
+
The first time a version is uploaded which corresponds to a particular
upstream version, the original source tar file should be uploaded and
@@ -978,6 +1000,27 @@ is some reason why this is not the case, the new version of the
original source should be uploaded, possibly by using the -sa
flag.
+
+
+The Distribution field, which originates from the first line of
+the
+There are three possible values for this field: `stable', `unstable',
+and `experimental'. Normally, packages are uploaded into
+unstable.
+
+You should avoid combining `stable' with others because of potential
+problems with library dependencies (for your package and for the package
+built by the build daemons for other architecture).
+See for more information on when and how to
+upload to stable.
+
+It never makes sense to combine the experimental distribution
+with anything else.
+
+
+
@@ -1057,36 +1102,7 @@ inclusion.
-
-Before you upload your package, you should do basic testing on it. At
-a minimum, you should try the following activities (you'll need to
-have an older version of the same Debian package around):
-
-Normally, a package should not be uploaded if it causes lintian
-to emit errors (they will start with E).
-
-For more information on
@@ -1095,7 +1111,13 @@ To upload a package, you need a personal account on
official maintainer. If you use
Note: Do not upload to ftp-master packages
containing software that is export-controlled by the United States
@@ -1108,12 +1130,14 @@ to non-us (see ). If you are not
sure whether U.S. export controls apply to your package, post a
message to &email-debian-devel; and ask.
-You may also find the Debian package
After uploading your package, you can check how the archive maintenance
software will process it by running
-On occasion, it is necessary to upload a package to both the
-stable and unstable distributions; this is done by
-putting both distributions in the Distribution: line. In
-such a case the upload announcement will go to both of the above
-mailing lists.
-
The
Guidelines for when to do a source NMU depend on the target
-distribution, i.e., stable, unstable, or frozen. Porters have
+distribution, i.e., stable, unstable, or experimental. Porters have
slightly different rules than non-porters, due to their unique
circumstances (see ).
@@ -1380,12 +1398,12 @@ maintainer cannot provide a fixed package fast enough or if he/she
cannot be reached in time, a security officer may upload a fixed
package (i.e., do a source NMU).
-During the release freeze (see ), 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 need to be followed.
+During the release cycle (see ), 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 need to be followed.
Bug fixes to unstable by non-maintainers are also acceptable, but only
as a last resort or with permission. Try the following steps first,
@@ -1511,28 +1529,27 @@ porters who have to do recompiles — chalk it up as a weakness in how
we maintain our archive.)
If the source NMU (non-maintainer upload) fixes some existing bugs,
-the bugs in the Bug Tracking System which are fixed need to be
-notified but not actually closed by the
-non-maintainer. Technically, only the official package maintainer or
-the original bug submitter are allowed to close bugs. However, the
-person making the non-maintainer release must send a short message to
-the relevant bugs explaining that the bugs have been fixed by the NMU.
-Using
-The normal maintainer will either apply the patch or employ an
-alternate method of fixing the problem. Sometimes bugs are fixed
-independently upstream, which is another good reason to back out an
-NMU's patch. If the maintainer decides not to apply the NMU's patch
-but to release a new version, the maintainer needs to ensure that the
-new upstream version really fixes each problem that was fixed in the
-non-maintainer release.
+these bugs should be tagged fixed in the Bug Tracking
+System rather than closed. By convention, only the official package
+maintainer or the original bug submitter are allowed to close bugs.
+Fortunately, Debian's archive system recognizes NMUs and thus marks
+the bugs fixed in the NMU appropriately if the person doing the NMU
+has listed all bugs in the changelog with the Closes:
+bug#nnnnn syntax (see for
+more information describing how to close bugs via the changelog).
+Tagging the bugs fixed ensures that everyone knows that the
+bug was fixed in an NMU; however the bug is left open until the
+changes in the NMU are incorporated officially into the package by
+the official package maintainer.
+
+Also, after doing an NMU, you have to open a new bug and include a
+patch showing all the changes you have made. The normal maintainer
+will either apply the patch or employ an alternate method of fixing
+the problem. Sometimes bugs are fixed independently upstream, which
+is another good reason to back out an NMU's patch. If the maintainer
+decides not to apply the NMU's patch but to release a new version,
+the maintainer needs to ensure that the new upstream version really
+fixes each problem that was fixed in the non-maintainer release.
In addition, the normal maintainer should always retain the
entry in the changelog file documenting the non-maintainer upload.
@@ -1695,11 +1712,16 @@ Porters doing a source NMU generally follow the guidelines found in
the wait cycle for a porter's source NMU is smaller than for a
non-porter, since porters have to cope with a large quantity of
packages.
-
Again, the situation varies depending on the distribution they are
-uploading to. Crucial fixes (i.e., changes need to get a source
+uploading to.
+
+
However, if you are a porter doing an NMU for `unstable', the above
guidelines for porting should be followed, with two variations.
@@ -1844,10 +1866,14 @@ package. When invoked as apt-cache showpkg
-If you decide to remove a package from Incoming, it is nice
-but not required to send a notification of that to the appropriate
-announce list (either &email-debian-changes; or
-&email-debian-devel-changes;).
+In the past, it was possible to remove packages from incoming.
+With the introduction of the New Incoming system this is no longer
+possible. Instead, you have to upload a new revision of your package with
+a higher version as the package you want to replace. Both versions will be
+installed in the archive but only the higher version will actually be
+available in unstable since the previous version will immediately
+be replaced by the higher. However, if you do proper testing of your
+packages, the need to replace a package should not occur too often anyway.
@@ -1921,16 +1947,16 @@ Maintainers interact with the BTS via email addresses at
bugs.debian.org. Documentation on available commands can be
found at
Some find it useful to get periodic reports on open bugs. You can add
a cron job such as the following if you want to get a weekly email
outlining all the open bugs against your packages:
Sponsoring a package means uploading a package for a maintainer who is not
able to do it on their own, a new maintainer applicant. Sponsoring a package
@@ -2077,8 +2103,12 @@ Application Managers"> at the Debian web site.
This section contains a rough overview of the tools available to
-maintainers. These tools are meant to help convenience developers and
-free their time for critical tasks.
+maintainers. The following is by no means complete or definitive, but
+just a guide to some of the more popular tools.
+
+Debian maintainer tools are meant to help convenience developers and
+free their time for critical tasks. As Larry Wall says, there's more
+than one way to do it.
Some people prefer to use high-level package maintenance tools and
some do not. Debian is officially agnostic on this issue; any tool
@@ -2089,7 +2119,8 @@ endorse any particular tool to the exclusion of a competing tool.
-
-
-
-
-
+
-
-
-
+