X-Git-Url: http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/ucgi/~ianmdlvl/git?a=blobdiff_plain;f=developers-reference.sgml;h=a09903cfd840dcdd2035f96644ebf1d09a5a1873;hb=5381651c352723b79a2c71528f5fd0670d826725;hp=63a91b9085d26bb1e4f9737e4f6dba244787237d;hpb=770042b07cc441a9a737efd52258c0845423f391;p=developers-reference.git diff --git a/developers-reference.sgml b/developers-reference.sgml index 63a91b9..a09903c 100644 --- a/developers-reference.sgml +++ b/developers-reference.sgml @@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ %dynamicdata; - + @@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ -copyright © 2004—2006 Andreas Barth +copyright © 2004—2007 Andreas Barth copyright © 1998—2003 Adam Di Carlo @@ -144,6 +144,11 @@ 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. +

+One pitfall could be a too-generic local part in your mailadress: +Terms like mail, admin, root, master should be avoided, please +see for details. + Debian mentors and sponsors

@@ -158,7 +163,7 @@ post to that list and an experienced developer will volunteer to help. In addition, if you have some packages ready for inclusion in Debian, but are waiting for your new maintainer application to go through, you might be able find a sponsor to upload your package for you. Sponsors -are people who are official Debian maintainers, and who are willing to +are people who are official Debian Developers, and who are willing to criticize and upload your packages for you. @@ -2232,7 +2261,7 @@ packages for stable; the security team will do that. Useful information includes, for example: - What versions of the package are known to be affected by the + Which versions of the package are known to be affected by the bug. Check each version that is present in a supported Debian release, as well as testing and unstable. @@ -2261,7 +2290,7 @@ case depends on the nature of the problem and corresponding fix, and whether it is already a matter of public knowledge.

-There are a few ways developers can learn of a security problem: +There are several ways developers can learn of a security problem: they notice it on a public forum (mailing list, web site, etc.) @@ -2281,7 +2310,7 @@ There are a few ways developers can learn of a security problem: If the problem is severe, it is preferable to share the information with other vendors and coordinate a release. The security team keeps - contacts with the various organizations and individuals and can take + in contact with the various organizations and individuals and can take care of that. @@ -2478,9 +2507,8 @@ be fixes for security problems that cannot be disclosed yet.

If a member of the security team accepts a package, it will be -installed on security.debian.org as well as the proper -distribution-proposed-updates on ftp-master or in the non-US -archive. +installed on security.debian.org as well as proposed for the proper +distribution-proposed-updates on ftp-master. Moving, removing, renaming, adopting, and orphaning @@ -2488,7 +2516,7 @@ archive.

Some archive manipulation operations are not automated in the Debian upload process. These procedures should be manually followed by -maintainers. This chapter gives guidelines in what to do in these +maintainers. This chapter gives guidelines on what to do in these cases. Moving packages @@ -2504,7 +2532,11 @@ belongs in. If you need to change the section for one of your packages, change the package control information to place the package in the desired section, and re-upload the package (see the for details). If your new section is +name="Debian Policy Manual"> for details). +You must ensure that you include the .orig.tar.gz in your upload +(even if you are not uploading a new upstream version), +or it will not appear in the new section together with the rest of the package. +If your new section is valid, it will be moved automatically. If it does not, then contact the ftpmasters in order to understand what happened.

@@ -2529,7 +2561,18 @@ are not removed from testing directly. Rather, they will be removed automatically after the package has been removed from unstable and no package in testing depends on it.

-You also have to detail the reasons justifying that request. This is to +There is one exception when an explicit removal request is not necessary: +If a (source or binary) package is an orphan, it will be removed +semi-automatically. +For a binary-package, this means if there is no longer any source package +producing this binary package; +if the binary package is just no longer produced on some architectures, +a removal request is still necessary. +For a source-package, this means that all binary packages it refers to +have been taken over by another source package. +

+In your removal request, you have to detail the reasons justifying the request. +This is to avoid unwanted removals and to keep a trace of why a package has been removed. For example, you can provide the name of the package that supersedes the one to be removed. @@ -2544,13 +2587,17 @@ If in doubt concerning whether a package is disposable, email package. When invoked as apt-cache showpkg package, the program will show details for package, including reverse depends. +Other useful programs include +apt-cache rdepends, +apt-rdepends and +grep-dctrl. Removal of orphaned packages is discussed on &email-debian-qa;.

Once the package has been removed, the package's bugs should be handled. They should either be reassigned to another package in the case where the actual code has evolved into another package (e.g. libfoo12 was removed because libfoo13 supersedes it) or closed if the -software is simply no more part of Debian. +software is simply no longer part of Debian. Removing packages from Incoming

@@ -2588,8 +2635,8 @@ mirror network. Orphaning a package

-If you can no longer maintain a package, you need to inform the others -about that, and see that the package is marked as orphaned. +If you can no longer maintain a package, you need to inform others, +and see that the package is marked as orphaned. You should set the package maintainer to Debian QA Group &orphan-address; and submit a bug report against the pseudo package wnpp. The bug report should be @@ -2612,7 +2659,7 @@ More information is on the . Adopting a package

-A list of packages in need of a new maintainer is available at in the +A list of packages in need of a new maintainer is available in the . If you wish to take over maintenance of any of the packages listed in the WNPP, please take a look at the aforementioned @@ -2859,7 +2906,7 @@ blessing or status, so buyer beware. Porting infrastructure and automation

-There is infrastructure and several tools to help automate the package +There is infrastructure and several tools to help automate 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.

@@ -2916,7 +2963,7 @@ general interest (for instance, a flavor of Debian built with gcc bounds checking). It will also enable Debian to recompile entire distributions quickly.

-The buildds admins of each arch can be contacted by the mail address +The buildds admins of each arch can be contacted at the mail address $arch@buildd.debian.org. When your package is not portable @@ -2981,7 +3028,7 @@ that too is strictly speaking a binary NMU. See for some more information.

The main reason why NMUs are done is when a -developer needs to fix another developer's packages in order to +developer needs to fix another developer's package in order to address serious problems or crippling bugs or when the package maintainer is unable to release a fix in a timely fashion. @@ -3007,7 +3054,7 @@ NMUs which fix important, serious or higher severity bugs are encouraged and accepted. You should endeavor to reach the current maintainer of the package; they might be just about to upload a fix for the problem, or have a better -solution present. +solution.

NMUs should be made to assist a package's maintainer in resolving bugs. Maintainers should be thankful for that help, and NMUers should respect @@ -3111,11 +3158,11 @@ If you upload a package to testing or stable, sometimes, you need to Source NMUs must have a new changelog entry

-A non-maintainer doing a source NMU must create a changelog entry, +Anyone who is doing a source NMU must create a changelog entry, describing which bugs are fixed by the NMU, and generally why the NMU was required and what it fixed. The changelog entry will have the -non-maintainer's email address in the log entry and the NMU version -number in it. +email address of the person who uploaded it in the log entry +and the NMU version number in it.

By convention, source NMU changelog entries start with the line @@ -3137,24 +3184,14 @@ patch to be sent. If you want the package to be recompiled for all architectures, then you do a source NMU as usual and you will have to send a patch.

-If the source NMU (non-maintainer upload) fixes some existing bugs, -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 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. +Bugs fixed by source NMUs used to be tagged fixed instead of closed, +but since version tracking is in place, such bugs are now also +closed with the NMU version.

Also, after doing an NMU, you have to send -that information to the existing bugs that are fixed by your NMU, +the information to the existing bugs that are fixed by your NMU, including the unified diff. -Alternatively you can open a new bug and include a +Historically, it was custom 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 @@ -3174,7 +3211,7 @@ please reopen the relevant bug reports.

Source NMU packages are built normally. Pick a distribution using the same rules as found in , follow the other -prescriptions in . +instructions in .

Make sure you do not change the value of the maintainer in the debian/control file. Your name as given in the NMU entry of @@ -3196,7 +3233,7 @@ entry of your next upload.

In any case, you should not be upset by the NMU. An NMU is not a personal attack against the maintainer. It is a proof that -someone cares enough about the package and that they were willing to help +someone cares enough about the package that they were willing to help you in your work, so you should be thankful. You may also want to ask them if they would be interested in helping you on a more frequent basis as co-maintainer or backup maintainer @@ -3209,31 +3246,18 @@ package to see if it has been orphaned. The current list of orphaned packages which haven't had their maintainer set correctly is available at . If you perform an NMU on an improperly orphaned package, please set the maintainer to ``Debian QA Group -<packages@qa.debian.org>''. Also, the bugs are closed in that case, -and not only marked fixed. +<packages@qa.debian.org>''. Who can do an NMU

-Only official, registered Debian maintainers can do binary or source -NMUs. An official maintainer is someone who has their key in the +Only official, registered Debian Developers can do binary or source +NMUs. A Debian Developer 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. - How dak detects NMUs -

-Whether an upload is treated as an NMU or as a maintainer upload by -the archive scripts and the bugtracking system (see ) is not decided by looking at the version -number (see ). Instead, an upload is handled as -an NMU if the maintainer address in the .changes file is not -binary the same as the address in the Maintainer field, or -any of the addresses the Uploaders field, of the dsc -file, and also if the maintainer address is not special (i.e. it is -not set to the QA Group address). - Terminology

There are two new terms used throughout this section: ``binary-only NMU'' @@ -3260,7 +3284,7 @@ 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.

-Both classes of NMUs, source and binary-only, can be lumped by the +Both classes of NMUs, source and binary-only, can be lumped under 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: always use ``binary NMU'' or ``binNMU'' for binary-only @@ -3273,7 +3297,7 @@ NMUs. "Collaborative maintenance" is a term describing the sharing of Debian package maintenance duties by several people. This collaboration is almost always a good idea, since it generally results in higher quality and -faster bug fix turnaround time. It is strongly recommended that +faster bug fix turnaround times. It is strongly recommended that packages with a priority of Standard or which are part of the base set have co-maintainers.

@@ -3290,7 +3314,8 @@ quite easy: Setup the co-maintainer with access to the sources you build the package from. Generally this implies you are using a network-capable version control system, such as CVS or -Subversion.

+Subversion. Alioth (see ) provides such +tools, amongst others.

@@ -3308,9 +3333,32 @@ Using the PTS (), the co-maintainers should subscribe themselves to the appropriate source package.

-

-Collaborative maintenance can often be further eased with the use of -tools on Alioth (see ). +

+Another form of collaborative maintenance is team maintenance, which is +recommended if you maintain several packages with the same group of +developers. In that case, the Maintainer and Uploaders field of each +package must be managed with care. It is recommended to choose between +one of the two following schemes: + + +

+Put the team member mainly responsible for the package in the Maintainer +field. In the Uploaders, put the mailing list address, and the team members +who care for the package. + + +

+Put the mailing list address in the Maintainer field. In the Uploaders +field, put the team members who care for the package. +In this case, you must make sure the mailing list accept bug reports +without any human interaction (like moderation for non-subscribers). + + +

+In any case, it is a bad idea to automatically put all team members in +the Uploaders field. It clutters the Developer's Package Overview listing +(see ) with packages one doesn't really care for, and +creates a false sense of good maintenance. @@ -3362,7 +3410,7 @@ in testing; The packages on which it depends must either be available in testing or they must be accepted into testing at the same time (and they will -if they fulfill all the necessary criteria); +be if they fulfill all the necessary criteria);

To find out whether a package is progressing into testing or not, see the @@ -3433,11 +3481,16 @@ if you maintain glibc or so.)

Sometimes, a package is removed to allow another package in: This happens only to allow another package to go in if it's ready in every other -sense. Suppose e.g. that a conflicts with the new version of +sense. Suppose e.g. that a cannot be installed with the new version of b; then a may be removed to allow b in.

Of course, there is another reason to remove a package from testing: It's just too buggy (and having a single RC-bug is enough to be in this state). +

+Furthermore, if a package has been removed from unstable, +and no package in testing depends on it any more, +then it will automatically be removed. + circular dependencies @@ -3486,8 +3539,9 @@ If you are interested in details, this is how britney works: The packages are looked at to determine whether they are valid candidates. This gives the "update excuses". The most common reasons why a package is not considered are too young, RC-bugginess, and out of -date on some arches. For this part, the release managers have hammers -of any size to force britney to consider a package. (Also, the base +date on some arches. For this part of britney, +the release managers have hammers +of various sizes to force britney to consider a package. (Also, the base freeze is coded in that part of britney.) (There is a similar thing for binary-only updates, but this is not described here. If you're interested in that, please peruse the code.) @@ -3701,7 +3755,7 @@ documentation and examples (in /usr/share/doc/dpatch). A single source package will often build several binary packages, either to provide several flavors of the same software (e.g., the vim source package) or to make several small -packages instead of a big one (e.g., if the user can install only the +packages instead of a big one (e.g., so the user can install only the subset needed, and thus save some disk space).

The second case can be easily managed in debian/rules. @@ -3898,6 +3952,59 @@ until that is available. /^ Homepage: [^ ]*$/, as this allows packages.debian.org to parse it correctly.

+ + + Version Control System location +

+There are additional fields for the location of the Version Control System +in debian/control. + XS-Vcs-Browser +

+Value of this field should be a http:// URL pointing to a +web-browsable copy of the Version Control System repository used to +maintain the given package, if available. +

+The information is meant to be useful for the final user, willing to +browse the latest work done on the package (e.g. when looking for the +patch fixing a bug tagged as pending in the bug tracking +system). + XS-Vcs-* +

+Value of this field should be a string identifying unequivocally the +location of the Version Control System repository used to maintain the +given package, if available. * identify the Version Control +System; currently the following systems are supported by the package +tracking system: arch, bzr (Bazaar), cvs, +darcs, git, hg (Mercurial), mtn +(Monotone), svn (Subversion). It is allowed to specify different +VCS fields for the same package: they will all be shown in the PTS web +interface. +

+The information is meant to be useful for a user knowledgeable in the +given Version Control System and willing to build the current version of +a package from the VCS sources. Other uses of this information might +include automatic building of the latest VCS version of the given +package. To this end the location pointed to by the field should better +be version agnostic and point to the main branch (for VCSs supporting +such a concept). Also, the location pointed to should be accessible to +the final user; fulfilling this requirement might imply pointing to an +anonymous access of the repository instead of pointing to an +SSH-accessible version of the same. +

+In the following example, an instance of the field for a Subversion +repository of the vim package is shown. Note how the +URL is in the svn:// scheme (instead of svn+ssh://) and +how it points to the trunk/ branch. The use of the +XS-Vcs-Browser field described above is also shown. + + Source: vim + Section: editors + Priority: optional + <snip> + XS-Vcs-Svn: svn://svn.debian.org/svn/pkg-vim/trunk/packages/vim + XS-Vcs-Browser: http://svn.debian.org/wsvn/pkg-vim/trunk/packages/vim + + @@ -3968,14 +4075,15 @@ tracking system.

It is an old tradition to acknowledge bugs fixed in non-maintainer uploads in the first changelog entry of the proper maintainer upload. -Please use the option -v to dpkg-buildpackage -to close the relevant bug report. +As we have version tracking now, +it is enough to keep the NMUed changelog entries and +just mention this fact in your own changelog entry. Common errors in changelog entries

-The following examples demonstrate some common errors or example of +The following examples demonstrate some common errors or examples of bad style in changelog entries.

@@ -4207,7 +4315,7 @@ good start). Avoid changing templates too often. Changing templates text induces more work to translators which will get their translation "fuzzied". If you plan changes to your original templates, please contact -translators. Most active translators are very reactive and getting +translators. Most active translators are very responsive and getting their work included along with your modified templates will save you additional uploads. If you use gettext-based templates, the translator's name and e-mail addresses are mentioned in the po files @@ -4285,15 +4393,18 @@ Just give facts. You should avoid the use of first person ("I will do this..." or "We recommend..."). The computer is not a person and the Debconf templates do not speak for the Debian developers. You should use neutral -construction and often the passive form. Those of you who already +construction. Those of you who already wrote scientific publications, just write your templates like you would write a scientific paper. +However, try using action voice if still possible, like +"Enable this if ..." +instead of +"This can be enabled if ...". Be gender neutral

The world is made of men and women. Please use gender-neutral -constructions in your writing. This is not Political Correctness, this -is showing respect to all humanity. +constructions in your writing. Templates fields definition @@ -4317,7 +4428,7 @@ soon as is possible. boolean:

-A true/false choice. Remember: true/false, NOT YES/NO... +A true/false choice. Remember: true/false, not yes/no... select:

@@ -4346,17 +4457,13 @@ This type is now considered obsolete: don't use it. error:

-THIS TEMPLATE TYPE IS NOT HANDLED BY DEBCONF YET. -

-It has been added to cdebconf, the C version of debconf, first used in -the Debian Installer. -

-Please do not use it unless debconf supports it. -

-This type is designed to handle error message. It is mostly similar to +This type is designed to handle error messages. It is mostly similar to the "note" type. Frontends may present it differently (for instance, the dialog frontend of cdebconf draws a red screen instead of the usual blue one). +

+It is recommended to use this type for any message that needs user +attention for a correction of any kind. Description: short and extended description @@ -4388,9 +4495,12 @@ The extended description should use complete sentences. Paragraphs should be kept short for improved readability. Do not mix two ideas in the same paragraph but rather use another paragraph.

-Don't be too verbose. Some debconf interfaces cannot deal very well -with descriptions of more than about 20 lines, so try to keep it below -this limit. +Don't be too verbose. User tend to ignore too long screens. +20 lines are by experience a border you shouldn't cross, +because that means that in the classical dialog interface, +people will need to scroll, and lot of people just don't do that. +

+The extended description should never include a question.

For specific rules depending on templates type (string, boolean, etc.), please read below. @@ -4424,7 +4534,7 @@ Below are specific instructions for properly writing the Description String/password templates

- The short description is a prompt and NOT a title. Avoid + The short description is a prompt and not a title. Avoid question style prompts ("IP Address?") in favour of "opened" prompts ("IP address:"). The use of colons is recommended. @@ -4444,8 +4554,6 @@ Below are specific instructions for properly writing the Description question is rather long (remember that translations are often longer than original versions) - The extended description should NOT include a question. - Again, please avoid referring to specific interface widgets. A common mistake for such templates is "if you answer Yes"-type constructions. @@ -4454,7 +4562,8 @@ Below are specific instructions for properly writing the Description Select/Multiselect

- The short description is a prompt and NOT a title. Do NOT use useless + The short description is a prompt and not a title. + Do not use useless "Please choose..." constructions. Users are clever enough to figure out they have to choose something...:) @@ -4473,7 +4582,8 @@ Below are specific instructions for properly writing the Description The extended description is what will be displayed as a more detailed explanation of the note. Phrases, no terse writing style. - DO NOT ABUSE DEBCONF. Notes are the most common way to abuse + Do not abuse debconf. + Notes are the most common way to abuse debconf. As written in debconf-devel manual page: it's best to use them only for warning about very serious problems. The NEWS.Debian or README.Debian files are the appropriate location for a lot of notes. @@ -4526,7 +4636,7 @@ confusing: the translators may put their own choice Do NOT use empty default field. If you don't want to use default values, do not use Default at all.

-If you use po-debconf (and you SHOULD, see 2.2), consider making this +If you use po-debconf (and you should, see 2.2), consider making this field translatable, if you think it may be translated.

If the default value may vary depending on language/country (for @@ -4814,7 +4924,8 @@ the following: It unpacks the tarball in an empty temporary directory by doing -zcat path/to/<packagename>_<upstream-version>.orig.tar.gz | tar xf - + +zcat path/to/<packagename>_<upstream-version>.orig.tar.gz | tar xf - + If, after this, the temporary directory contains nothing but one @@ -4914,7 +5025,8 @@ point). should use <packagename>-<upstream-version>.orig as the name of the top-level directory in its tarball. This makes it possible to -distinguish pristine tarballs from repackaged ones. + +distinguish pristine tarballs from repackaged ones. + should be gzipped with maximal compression. @@ -4942,6 +5054,17 @@ form The file should have a name that makes it clear which binary file it encodes. Usually, some postfix indicating the encoding should be appended to the original filename. +Note that you don't need to depend on sharutils to get +the uudecode program if you use perl's +pack function. +The code could look like + +uuencode-file: + perl -ne 'print(pack "u", $$_);' $(file) > $(file).uuencoded + +uudecode-file: + perl -ne 'print(unpack "u", $$_);' $(file).uuencoded > $(file) + . The file would then be decoded and copied to its place during the build process. Thus the change will be visible quite easy. @@ -4958,6 +5081,56 @@ build process.

+ + Best practices for debug packages +

+A debug package is a package with a name ending in "-dbg", that contains +additional information that gdb can use. Since Debian binaries are +stripped by default, debugging information, including function names and +line numbers, is otherwise not available when running gdb on Debian binaries. +Debug packages allow users who need this additional debugging information to +install it, without bloating a regular system with the information. +

+It is up to a package's maintainer whether to create a debug package or +not. Maintainers are encouraged to create debug packages for library +packages, since this can aid in debugging many programs linked to a +library. In general, debug packages do not need to be added for all +programs; doing so would bloat the archive. But if a maintainer finds +that users often need a debugging version of a program, it can be +worthwhile to make a debug package for it. Programs that are core +infrastructure, such as apache and the X server are also good candidates +for debug packages. +

+Some debug packages may contain an entire special debugging build of a +library or other binary, but most of them can save space and build time +by instead containing separated debugging symbols that gdb can find and +load on the fly when debugging a program or library. The convention in +Debian is to keep these symbols in /usr/lib/debug/path, +where path is the path to the executable or library. For example, +debugging symbols for /usr/bin/foo go in +/usr/lib/debug/usr/bin/foo, and +debugging symbols for /usr/lib/libfoo.so.1 go in +/usr/lib/debug/usr/lib/libfoo.so.1. +

+The debugging symbols can be extracted from an object file using +"objcopy --only-keep-debug". Then the object file can be stripped, and +"objcopy --add-gnu-debuglink" used to specify the path to the debugging +symbol file. explains in detail how this +works. +

+The dh_strip command in debhelper supports creating debug packages, and +can take care of using objcopy to separate out the debugging symbols for +you. If your package uses debhelper, all you need to do is call +"dh_strip --dbg-package=libfoo-dbg", and add an entry to debian/control +for the debug package. +

+Note that the Debian package should depend on the package that it +provides debugging symbols for, and this dependency should be versioned. +For example: + + +Depends: libfoo-dbg (= ${binary:Version}) + @@ -5037,6 +5210,12 @@ developers to verify that the bug is a real problem. In addition, it will help prevent a situation in which several maintainers start filing the same bug report simultaneously.

+Please use the programms dd-list and +if appropriate whodepends +(from the package devscripts) +to generate a list of all affected packages, and include the +output in your mail to &email-debian-devel;. +

Note that when sending lots of bugs on the same subject, you should send the bug report to maintonly@&bugs-host; so that the bug report is not forwarded to the bug distribution mailing @@ -5117,18 +5296,20 @@ haven't registered out of the system, so to speak. On the other hand, it is also possible that they just need a reminder.

There is a simple system (the MIA database) in which information about -maintainers who are deemed Missing In Action are recorded. When a member of the +maintainers who are deemed Missing In Action is recorded. +When a member of the QA group contacts an inactive maintainer or finds more information about one, this is recorded in the MIA database. This system is available in /org/qa.debian.org/mia on the host qa.debian.org, and can be queried with a tool known as mia-query. Use mia-query --help to see how to query the database. If you find that no information has been recorded -about an inactive maintainer already, or that you can add more information, +about an inactive maintainer yet, or that you can add more information, you should generally proceed as follows.

-The first step is to politely contact the maintainer, and wait for a -response for a reasonable time. It is quite hard to define "reasonable +The first step is to politely contact the maintainer, +and wait a reasonable time for a response. +It is quite hard to define "reasonable time", but it is important to take into account that real life is sometimes very hectic. One way to handle this would be to send a reminder after two weeks. @@ -5141,7 +5322,7 @@ about the maintainer in question as possible. This includes: The "echelon" information available through the , - which indicates when the developer last has posted to + which indicates when the developer last posted to a Debian mailing list. (This includes uploads via debian-*-changes lists.) Also, remember to check whether the maintainer is marked as "on vacation" in the database. @@ -5170,16 +5351,16 @@ is aware of the whereabouts of the missing maintainer. Please Cc: the person in question.

Once you have gathered all of this, you can contact &email-mia;. -People on this alias will use the information you provided in order to +People on this alias will use the information you provide in order to decide how to proceed. For example, they might orphan one or all of the -packages of the maintainer. If a packages has been NMUed, they might prefer +packages of the maintainer. If a package has been NMUed, they might prefer to contact the NMUer before orphaning the package — perhaps the person who has done the NMU is interested in the package.

One last word: please remember to be polite. We are all volunteers and cannot dedicate all of our time to Debian. Also, you are not aware of the circumstances of the person who is involved. Perhaps they might be -seriously ill or might even had died — you do not know who may be on the +seriously ill or might even have died — you do not know who may be on the receiving side. Imagine how a relative will feel if they read the e-mail of the deceased and find a very impolite, angry and accusing message!

@@ -5341,7 +5522,7 @@ For web pages, each l10n team has access to the relevant CVS, and the statistics are available from the Central Debian translation statistics site.

For general documentation about Debian, the process is more or less the same -than for the web pages (the translators have access to the CVS), but there are +as for the web pages (the translators have access to the CVS), but there are no statistics pages.

For package-specific documentation (man pages, info documents, other formats), @@ -5440,9 +5621,9 @@ running. As a maintainer, never edit the translations in any way (even to reformat the -layout) without asking to the corresponding l10n mailing list. You risk for -example to break the encoding of the file by doing so. Moreover, what you -consider as an error can be right (or even needed) in the given language. +layout) without asking on the corresponding l10n mailing list. You risk for +example breaksing the encoding of the file by doing so. Moreover, what you +consider an error can be right (or even needed) in the given language. As a translator, if you find an error in the original text, make sure to report it. Translators are often the most attentive readers of a given text, and if