1 developers-reference (3.4.7) UNRELEASED; urgency=low
3 * Document some best practices for meta-packages. Extend those for
4 transitional packages. Based on a patch by Luca Falavigna
5 <dktrkranz@debian.org> (thanks!). Closes: #569219
6 * Update license pointer to correctly point to GPL-2. Closes: #643929
7 Thanks to Luca Falavigna.
8 * Update URL of Debian Mentors FAQ. Closes: #643930
9 Thanks to Luca Falavigna for the patch.
10 * Refresh some release-specific information. Closes: #643931
11 Based on a patch by Luca Falavigna.
12 * Refresh some ftpmaster-related information. Closes: #643932
13 Thanks to Luca Falavigna for the patch.
14 * Update minimal GPG key length to match current requirements.
15 Closes: #643933 Thanks to Luca Falavigna for the patch.
16 * Update login information for rt.debian.org. Closes: #643934
17 Thanks to Luca Falavigna for the patch.
18 * Drop section about yada. Its usage is highly discouraged. Closes: #643935
19 Thanks to Luca Falavigna for the patch.
21 -- Raphaël Hertzog <hertzog@debian.org> Tue, 06 Sep 2011 09:19:21 +0200
23 developers-reference (3.4.6) unstable; urgency=low
26 * Update the NMU rules to take into account the 0-day NMU rule
27 instituted by the release managers. Closes: #625449
30 * Update my email address.
31 * Encourage the use of RT to contact the security team.
32 Patch from Thijs Kinkhorst. Closes: #610782
33 * Document the process of returning after retirement.
34 Patch from Serafeim Zanikolas. Closes: #540249
35 * Add instructions how to mark a non-free package as auto-buildable.
36 Patch from Moritz Muehlenhoff, ACKed by Andreas Barth.
39 -- Lucas Nussbaum <lucas@debian.org> Sun, 31 Jul 2011 19:52:10 +0200
41 developers-reference (3.4.5) unstable; urgency=low
46 * Remove part about -v for package uploads from experimental to unstable,
47 version tracking removed that requirement.
50 * Rework section on "sponsoring packages" and include a basic
51 checklist for the sponsor. Closes: #453313
52 * Update the "Debian Developer's Duties" chapter to be more explicit
53 about duties of package maintainers. Closes: #548867
54 * Update references to merkel (which is decommissionned) where
55 needed. Closes: #619990
56 Thanks to Charles Plessy for the patch.
57 * Many typos fixed by Chris Leick <c.leick@vollbio.de>. Closes: #623512
60 * Initial German translation.
63 * Activate German package. Closes: #623489
64 * Update French translation.
65 * Bump Standards-Version to 3.9.2. No changes needed.
66 * Add build-arch and build-indep targets.
67 * Explicitly refer to GPL-2 file in debian/copyright.
70 * Update Japanese translation.
72 -- David Prévot <taffit@debian.org> Sun, 19 Jun 2011 13:56:46 -0400
74 developers-reference (3.4.4) unstable; urgency=low
77 * Document the new derivatives-bugs PTS keyword.
78 * Removed hp.debian.or.jp reference. Closes: 561597
81 * Update description of the PTS "summary" keyword. Thanks to
82 Simon McVittie <smcv@debian.org> for the patch. Closes: #469154
83 * Add accent on my first name in debian/control.
84 * Use "3.0 (native)" source format with bzip2 compression.
85 Created debian/source/{format,options} for this.
86 * Update guideline for override change to point to BTS
87 instead of email. Thanks to Simon McVittie <smcv@debian.org> for the
88 patch. Closes: #540231
89 * Include full URL to the README of the upload queue. Thanks to Simon
90 McVittie <smcv@debian.org> for the patch. Closes: #540974
91 * The key protecting #debian-private is now stored on a file
92 on master.debian.org, it's no more required to search into
93 the debian-private archives. Thanks to gregor herrmann <gregoa@debian.org>
94 for the patch. Closes: #548823
95 * Update information about upload queues. Thanks to Simon McVittie
96 <smcv@debian.org> for the patches:
97 - point to official names {ftp,ssh}.upload.debian.org. Closes: #554054
98 - drop references to non-working queues. Closes: #554077
99 * Mention docbook, POD and reST as convenient formats to write new manual
100 pages. Thanks to Charles Plessy and the debian-mentors list
101 for the idea and the patch. Closes: #557298
102 * Update several sections to take into account the new source formats “3.0
103 (quilt)” and “3.0 (native)”. Closes: #561952
104 * Drop reference to “dbs” in the section about including binary files.
105 * Fix typo “transfered“ → “transferred”. Closes: #555685
106 * Fix typo “programms“ → “programs”. Closes: #560808
107 * Drop section about debmake, it has been removed of Debian since lenny.
108 * Update URL of the security tracker. Thanks to Salvatore Bonaccorso.
110 * Update URL of Packages-arch-specific. Closes: #553974
111 * Update section about Alioth to mention FusionForge instead of GForge.
112 Drop mention of separate cvs.debian.org it's managed by Alioth too.
114 * Document new "buildd" keyword from the PTS.
115 * Update URL explaining the "Debian Maintainer" status, it's now at
116 http://wiki.debian.org/DebianMaintainer. Closes: #564414
117 * Update number of source packages. Thanks Karl Goetz. Closes: #567235
118 * Update and simplify list of architectures. Thanks Karl Goetz.
120 * Small typo fixes and clarifications/rewordings suggested by Karl Goetz.
122 * Document the notion of "team upload": it looks like an NMU but it's not
123 really one because the uploader is an implicit co-maintainer since he's
124 part of the maintenance team. Thanks to Charles Plessy for the initial
125 patch. Closes: #573110
126 * Update standards-version to 3.9.1 and add missing ${misc:Depends} in
128 * Fix debian/tocsubstvars to cope with the new way dpkg-dev handles
129 multi-lines substitution variables.
132 * Update outdated mentions, typos and tags. Closes: #578664
133 * French translation updated from the 2006 debiandoc version.
134 * Apply updated patch from Nicolas François. Closes: #257150
135 * dinstall run happens four times a day. Closes: #585161
136 * Activate Japanese package.
137 * Handle addendum if it exists.
139 -- Raphaël Hertzog <hertzog@debian.org> Mon, 22 Nov 2010 19:28:03 -0400
141 developers-reference (3.4.3) unstable; urgency=low
143 * Fixed working of the repackaged tarballs section to avoid giving the
144 impression that it's a standard packages must comply with. Closes:
146 * Specify that bugs from removed packages must be closed in foo+rm.
148 * Change the maintainer address to debian-policy@, based on discussion
150 * Bump Standards-Version to 3.8.3. No changes needed.
151 * Update copyright notices and list of authors.
153 -- Lucas Nussbaum <lucas@lucas-nussbaum.net> Thu, 17 Sep 2009 20:56:19 +0200
155 developers-reference (3.4.2) unstable; urgency=low
157 * Applied patch from Justin B Rye that improves the discussion on writing
158 package descriptions. Closes: #516436.
159 * Lenny has been released, update the list of codenames. Closes: #527008.
160 * Applied patch from Paul Wise that adds a paragraph about hostile
161 upstreams. Closes: #523985.
162 * Applied patch from Charles Plessy about providing information to the
163 ftpmasters. Closes: #526410.
164 * In the section about patch systems, mention quilt (wasn not
165 mentionned before) and describe it as the recommended patch system.
166 also mention dpatch and cdbs' patch system. drop dbs. Closes: #525668.
167 * Added a note in the wanna-build section to mention
168 http://release.debian.org/wanna-build.txt. Closes: #516375.
169 * Clarified NMU versioning to reflect existing practices. Closes: #532945.
170 * s/README.Debian-source/README.source/ in the section
171 about repackaged upstream tarballs.
172 * Mention the Gandi.net hosting discount in section 4.13.
173 Applied patch from Tim Retout. Closes: #538245.
174 * Reduce length of title of L10N section so that it is no longer split.
175 Applied patch from Justin B Rye. Closes: #534688.
176 * Bumped debhelper compat level to 5 (4 was deprecated)
177 * Bump Standards-Version to 3.8.2. No changes needed.
178 * Added pointer to debian-project@ post about the wanna-build team.
180 -- Lucas Nussbaum <lucas@lucas-nussbaum.net> Sat, 22 Aug 2009 12:28:04 +0200
182 developers-reference (3.4.1) unstable; urgency=low
185 * Create a publish target in the Makefile to reenable builds on the
189 * Commited DEP1: rework the whole NMU section.
190 The most important changes are:
191 + NMUs are now explicitely allowed for all bugs, not just "serious bugs".
192 + It is recommended to use the DELAYED queue, and some example delays are
195 + Describe the process of acknowleding NMUs in a way that works
196 with the BTS's version-tracking. Closes: #480723.
197 + No longer mention that only DDs can do NMU. Don't make any
198 distinction. Closes: #464230.
199 + Switch to +nmu for NMU versioning. Closes: #437392.
200 + Mention nmudiff. Closes: #483227.
201 * Mention docbook-xml, and that debiandoc-sgml is deprecated. Thanks to
202 W. Martin Borgert for the patch. Closes: #485689.
203 * Fixed typo and example in the blurb about debug packages.
204 Thanks to Theppitak Karoonboonyanan for the patch.
206 * Update instructions on the delayed queue.
207 Thanks to Thijs Kinkhorst for the patch.
209 * Clarify wording about repackaged .orig.tar.gz.
210 Thanks to Cyril Brulebois for the patch.
212 * Improved README.contrib. Mention command to checkout the SVN
213 version. Thanks to Christine Spang for the patch.
215 * Document usertags. Thanks to Chris Lamb for the patch.
217 * Updated documentation on translation updates.
218 Thanks to Christian Perrier for the patch.
220 * Update instructions on handling of security issues.
221 Thanks to Thijs Kinkhorst for the patch.
222 Closes: #512620, #510783.
224 -- Lucas Nussbaum <lucas@lucas-nussbaum.net> Fri, 23 Jan 2009 09:57:54 +0100
226 developers-reference (3.4.0) unstable; urgency=low
229 * Update Vcs-* fields after DDP's SVN restructuring. Closes: #483428.
230 * Fix conditions for updates from unstable to testing. Closes: #470754.
231 * linda has been removed. Remove section A.2.2. Closes: #483242.
232 * Co-maintainers are listed in the Uploaders field. Closes: #483230.
233 * Collaborative Maintenance: the 'global part' of debian/control
234 is the first paragraph, about the source package. Closes: #483231.
235 * debian-private archives are on master. Closes: #475531.
236 * Mention Debian Maintainers and the debian-maintainers package.
238 * README.contrib: document that short lines are preferred.
240 * build-rdeps allows to list reverse build-dependencies.
243 [ Marc 'HE' Brockschmidt ]
244 * Replace abused <emphasis> tags with <literal> tags.
245 * In the same spirit, wrap all uses of stable/testing/unstable and
246 release codenames in <literal>
247 * Remove reference to upload queue on auric in section 5.6.5, auric
248 doesn't exist anymore.
249 * Fix several typesetting errors and typos noticed by Sandro Tosi,
250 thanks for the notes! Closes: #483223
251 * Update several bits about release management/testing transitions
252 and release-critical bugs. Closes: #483237, #456494
253 * Update and rewrite the porting guidelines in chapter 5, bringing
254 the dev-ref up to the state of porting in the year 2008. Also
255 fixes several wording issues, such as possible misunderstandings
256 about the need to rebuild uploads. Closes: #483226
257 * Update the instructions for uploads to the (old)stable
258 distributions. Emphasize the importance of contacting the SRM
259 team before upload. Closes: #459343
260 * Update instructions for package removal requests. Closes: #454216
261 * Clarify instructions for bug reassignment, emphasizing the
262 need to inform the maintainers you reassign the bug to. Also
263 hint to using cloned bugs to avoid re-reporting. Heavily based
264 on patch by Marc Haber - thanks for the work! Closes: #484806
265 * Clarify instructions for replacing/renaming binary packages,
266 pointing out that using Provides is sometimes advisable. Closes:
268 * Update description of the madison tool (by replacing it with a
269 description of the dak ls tool). Update the example while we're
271 * Update explanation of best practice for closing bugs, seems to
272 have been forgotten when everything was upgraded to use
273 debbugs version-tracking. Closes: #485969
274 * Clarify ITP instructions and emphasize our wish that people send
275 ITPs, explaining a few of the reasons. Thanks for the note,
276 Thomas. Closes: #485837
278 + Update Uploaders to include Lucas, Raphael and me.
279 + Bump Standards-Version to 3.8.0. No changes needed!
281 -- Lucas Nussbaum <lucas@lucas-nussbaum.net> Fri, 13 Jun 2008 13:45:49 +0200
283 developers-reference (3.3.9) unstable; urgency=low
287 - bump standards-version to 3.7.3 (no change)
288 - fix debian/copyright
289 - move debhelper to Build-Depends.
290 - add pdf for French version.
291 * Document changes to stable release management. Closes: #414291
292 * Debconf error templates no longer discouraged. Thanks,
293 Christian Perrier. Closes: #427832
294 * Keyring now uses RT. Closes: #428846
295 * Document -dbg-packages within BPs. Thanks, Joey Hess. Closes: #420540
296 * NMUs now also close bugs. Thanks, Lucas Nussbaum. Closes: #419507
297 * Fix documentation about gender neutral. Closes: #384178
298 * Fix typo. Closes: #405453
299 * More details on how to write documentation. Thanks, Josh Triplett.
301 * Add XS-Vcs-*. Thanks to Stefano Zacchiroli. Closes: #391023
302 * Small brushup to debconf description. Thanks, Thomas Huriaux.
304 * Document Team-Maintainence better. Thanks, Lucas Nussbaum.
306 * Add link to more removal ressources. Thanks, Adam D. Barratt,
307 Justin Pryzby. Closes: #412757, #356720
308 * Repacking source packages need to be documented in copyright.
309 Thanks, Russ Allbery. Closes: #413320
310 * Better describe version of debian native packages NMUs. Closes: #405818
311 * Source, HTML and text are now encoded in UTF-8. Thanks, Jörg Sommer.
313 * Source is now DocBook XML instead of debiandoc. Closes: #374220
316 * Add a link to enrico's excellent Debian Community Guidelines.
317 * Recommend the use of DSA's request tracker instead of mailing them.
318 * Remove reference to #debian-sf, #debian-bsd which don't exist anymore. Put
319 a reference to #debian-dpkg instead.
320 * Remove all stuff concerning non-US.
321 * Update information concerning Alioth.
322 * Update information concerning the Package Tracking System.
323 * Mention Alioth as the main resource for VCS repositories and deprecate
325 * Remove XS- prefix for Vcs-* fields since dpkg now supports them.
326 * Document the Homepage field. Thanks, Christian Perrier. Closes:
328 * Add Vcs-Svn and Vcs-Browser fields pointing to the new SVN
331 -- W. Martin Borgert <debacle@debian.org> Thu, 28 Feb 2008 10:16:40 +0000
333 developers-reference (3.3.8) unstable; urgency=low
335 * mia-history is replaced by mia-query. Thanks, Christoph Berg.
337 * fix missing quite. Thanks, Frank Küster. Closes: #365994
338 * use gnugp instead of gpg. Thanks, Justin Pryzby, Jon Dowland.
340 * better destinction between maintainer and developer. Thanks for
341 the suggestion to Colin Tuckley. Closes: #380458
342 * irc.d.o points to oftc. Thanks, Christoph Biedl, Jon Dowland.
344 * Bugs are now always closed thanks to version tracking.
345 Closes: #339552, #353447, #376199
346 * Clarify what "a conflicts b" means in testing migration.
348 * Packages in testing disappear if they're removed from unstable.
349 Thanks, Frank Küster, Al Stone. Closes: #365993
350 * Document only the most recent changelog entry is used. Thanks
351 to Kevin Glynn to the suggestion. Closes: #374738
352 * Add more tools for reverse depends. Close: #376582
353 * delayed-queue on gluck is uploaded more often now. Closes: #397907
354 * stop using capitals, minor fixes, language fixes.
355 Thanks, Thijs Kinkhorst, Colin Tuckley, Russ Allbery.
356 Closes: #368046, #378929, #361744
357 * add CVE Ids to your changelog. Closes: #376961
358 * add reasoning why debconf questions shouldn't be longer than
359 20 lines. Thanks, Thijs Kinkhorst, Christian Perrier, Russ Allbery.
361 * section changing needs re-uploading orig.tar.gz.
362 Thanks, Adam D. Barratt. Closes: #387154
363 * binary files in diffs could be en/decoded with perl.
364 Thanks, Frank Küster. Closes: #397786
365 * Add pointer to new-reject-FAQ. Closes: #324967
366 * Hint to dd-list/whodepends. Closes: #353874
367 * Don't use too generic mail ids. Closes: #355725
368 * pts/summary is actually used. Thanks, Holger Levsen. Closes: #387108
369 * clarify that one should append the NMU-diff to a bug. Closes: #394033
370 * more detailed instructions on binary package removals.
374 - French translation updated to version 3.3.8
376 -- Andreas Barth <aba@not.so.argh.org> Sat, 11 Nov 2006 10:55:44 -0700
378 developers-reference (3.3.7) unstable; urgency=low
381 - adjust information about distributions with reality.
382 - add note on alioth accounts. Thanks, Phillip Kern. Closes: #306630
383 - correct manpage section of dpkg-scanpackages. Closes: #297069
384 - fix RFC 2440 URL. Closes: #308103
385 - add $arch@buildd information. Closes: #295483
386 - link to keyring.d.o for key replacement. Thanks, Martin Michlmayr.
388 - add information about Packages-arch-specific. Thanks, Frank Küster.
390 - add hint about LWN subscription. Thanks, Martin Michlmayr.
392 - more about debconf-style translation. Thanks, Christian Perrier.
394 - non-us discontinued.
395 - document nmu changes wrt version tracking. Thanks, Justin Pryzby.
397 - fix spelling issues. Thanks to various people.
398 Closes: #336146, #326857, #338660
399 - update menu policy helpers. Thanks, Florian Ernst. Closes: #340024
400 - send mia-mail to mia@qa. Thanks, Adam D. Barratt. Closes: #341568
401 - Joerg Jaspert is now freenode contact. Closes: #344303
402 - give a clearer description of the gpg v4-key issues. Thanks,
403 Martin Michlmayr and Peter Palfrader. Closes: #317411
404 - more verbose about Homepage. Closes: #339826
405 - add sarge and etch. Closes: #327682
406 - document severity of RoM-request bugs. Closes: #305947
407 - update FSF address. Closes: #334820
408 - fix P-a-s link. Closes: #341195
409 - reflect binNMU changes. Closes: #349493
410 - new security upload queue. Closes: #352749
411 - fix experimental's sources.list entry. Closes: #347229
412 - remove deprecated "Closes:..." to ACK NMU bug fixes. Closes: #353447
413 - when resigning, gpg-sign your mail. Closes: #348160
414 - make pristine source and repackaged origtargz anchors work.
416 - same number of RC bugs is ok. Closes: #351944
417 - dpkg-source doesn't keep permissions. Thanks, Enrico Zini.
419 - also mention aspell. Closes: #320981
422 - French translation updated to version 3.3.7, proofread by Bernard Adrian
424 -- Andreas Barth <aba@not.so.argh.org> Sun, 09 Apr 2006 11:31:52 -0600
426 developers-reference (3.3.6) unstable; urgency=low
429 - closes: and NMUs/experimental uploads. Closes: #284714
430 - madison is on merkel.
431 - more gender-neutral. Closes: #290583, #290584, #263114
432 - explain current incoming. Closes: #290019
433 - remove broken sponsoring URL. Closes: #291698
434 - add handling hints about orig.tar.gz. Thanks, Frank. Closes: #278524
435 - duplicate bug reports should be merged. Closes: #285381
436 - if you're on vacation, please check whether someone needs keysigning.
438 - freenode has developer cloacks. Closes: #285687
439 - cleaned up uploaders / maintainer field
440 - explain how dak detects NMUs. Closes: #292354
441 - add "mass" to lots of bugs. Closes: #292946
442 - sync NM rules with reality.
444 - French translation updated to version 3.3.6
446 -- Andreas Barth <aba@not.so.argh.org> Sun, 23 Jan 2005 16:08:49 -0700
448 developers-reference (3.3.5) unstable; urgency=low
451 - uploads to more than one dist are not possible.
452 - updated upload queues. Closes: #235213
453 - updated URL of vanilla rules files. Closes: #237557, #252048
454 - please speak with stable RM before uploading to stable. Closes: #261464
455 - information on wnpp usage synced with wnpp. Closes: #255298
456 - spelling, grammer fixes.
457 Closes: #202444, #202499, #203202, #203378, #221902, #226208
458 - add hint about partitial key id. Closes: #243968
459 - spohr is restriced, and also ftp-master. Closes: #255814
460 - bpp: Hint about locale generation as non-root. Closes: #208021
461 - bpp: deborphan-compliant transition packages. Closes: #183654
462 - add myself to uploaders.
463 - add chapter about i10n. Closes: #208156
464 - add information about dchroot. Closes: #211845
465 - add information about NEWS.Debian. Closes: #212402
466 - add information about mia-database. Closes: #213961
467 - add link to debian-mentors FAQ.
468 - add verbose information about the package description. Closes: #214792
469 - add hint about -v<version> to experimental. Closes: #232930
470 - update information about yada. Closes: #217956
471 - urgency is sticky. Closes: #261914
472 - updated information about testing distribution. Closes: #266649.
473 - rewrote the NMU section, and
474 + made the possible severities of "target bugs" clearer. Closes: #233088.
475 + mention QA uploads. Closes: #202416.
476 + add -B for binNMUs, and local debsign usage. Closes: #208839.
477 + warning about breaking all-packages by binNMU. Closes: #213348.
478 - add information about gpg usage. Closes: #175815.
479 - make key replacement instructions more details. Closes: #275921
480 - typo and language fixes. Thanks, Era Eriksson. Closes: #277576
481 - add hints about debconf templates from Christian Perrier.
483 - Security uploads get urgency=high
484 - Be even more explicit about not uploading security updates
486 - French translation updated to version 3.3.5
488 -- Andreas Barth <aba@not.so.argh.org> Mon, 22 Nov 2004 19:07:26 +0100
490 developers-reference (3.3.4) unstable; urgency=low
493 - fixed language in the PTS section, prompted by a patch from
494 Romain FRANCOISE, thank you; closes: #197741
495 - updated the mailing lists section (again)
496 - documented Alioth, somewhat
498 - French translation updated to version 3.3.3 (more or less)
499 - proofread by Patrice Karatchentzeff
501 - Don't upload security updates directly to stable
502 - Always include an external reference in security changelog entries
503 - Be careful not to re-use a version number in security uploads
504 - More explicit instructions about what is appropriate for a security
508 - replace <!entity...> with <!ENTITY...> and other SGML hygenics
510 - Release this package as is to flush changes between June and now.
511 Yes, its been an age between releases here, for which I apologize.
512 Since CVS upstream for this package is back, I'm working on closing
513 bugs in this package now, I just wanted to get it out as is before I
516 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 29 Feb 2004 14:09:48 -0500
518 developers-reference (3.3.3) unstable; urgency=low
521 - corrections by Michel Grentzinger
523 - updated documentation concerning the PTS
524 - added a paragraph about the PTS web interface
525 - documented how to add custom news item in the PTS
527 - updates and clarifications to instructions for security bugs
528 - deprecate uploads to stable for security fixes, reference
529 section on security bugs; closes: #196516
530 - use dpkg-buildpackage -B to test binary-arch, not -b;
533 - Sec "Managing sponsored packages": remove unnecessary 'debsign' cmd;
535 - fix debconf-devel(7) man page section; closes: #189512
536 - Sec "Responding to bugs": mention what FTBFS means; closes: #186605
537 - Sec "Distribution directories" renamed "Distributions"
538 - Sec "The testing distribution" moved under Sec "Distribution
539 directories" and renamed "More information about the testing
541 - Secs "Uploads to {stable,testing-proposed-updates}" retitled to make
542 it clear these are special cases
543 - Sec "Uploading to ftp-master": xref to "Delayed incoming";
545 - check compliance with Policy version 3.5.10
547 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Mon, 16 Jun 2003 04:08:29 -0400
549 developers-reference (3.3.2) unstable; urgency=low
552 - French translation updated to version 3.3.1
553 - proofread by Philippe Batailler and Patrice Karatchentzeff
555 - French translation requires debiandoc-sgml 1.1.76 or better
557 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 18 Apr 2003 09:48:59 -0400
559 developers-reference (3.3.1) unstable; urgency=low
562 - package description said it contained French and Japanese, fixed,
564 - Sec "Experimental": sources.list entries
565 - Sec "Basic rules for [mailing list] use": cosmetic, link to this sec
566 - Sec "Handling bugs": retitle and expand section
568 - more improvements to package synopsis and description
569 - the synopsis formula changed to either
570 <package-name> is a <synopsis>
572 <package-name> is <synopsis>
574 <package-name> are <synopsis>
576 - the synopsis itself should not start with an article
577 - Sec "Best practices for debian/control": expand intro
578 - fix doc-check URL; closes: #187144
579 - Sec "Multiple binary packages": fix awkward wording about vim source
580 package; closes: #187143
582 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 4 Apr 2003 14:26:52 -0500
584 developers-reference (3.3) unstable; urgency=low
587 - French translation updated to version 3.2.2 (more or less)
588 - proofread by Philippe Batailler
590 - added "ddtp" keyword in the PTS documentation
592 - split out the doc-files per language, closes: #177448
593 - shuffled stuff around in the packages chapter
594 - added a section describing how to handle large amounts of
595 architecture-independent data bundled with programs
596 - added best practices on debian/changelog files, based on a patch
597 kindly provided by Daniel Kobras, closes: #166388
598 - described debdiff and dpkg-depcheck, and linked to them from the
599 right places in the document, closes: #172897
600 - describe the current practice in writing synopsis lines,
604 - convert to debhelper (compat mode 4); maintainer scripts no longer
606 - split -ja and -fr versions out into separate packages
607 - top-level makefile deletes targets on error; clean is cleaner
608 - replace the manual debian/control processing to show the document's
609 table of contents (TOC) with a new script 'debian/tocsubstvars';
610 note that the TOC displayed in the developers-reference-{fr,ja}
611 package descriptions are in English until UTF8 control files are
612 allowed; proper escaping of single quotes here requires newest
614 - editorial changes on material added in this version
615 - reorder "Best Packaging Practices" a bit
616 - rework "Best practices for debian/control" based on contributions
617 from Colin Walters, Branden Robinson, Sebastian Rittau and others;
618 closes: #139957, #108416
619 - primary author is developers-reference@packages.debian.org; remove
620 emails from other authors to prevent spam and confusion
622 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Mon, 24 Feb 2003 13:29:07 -0500
624 developers-reference (3.2.2) unstable; urgency=low
627 - slightly rewrote and updated links in the mirrors section
629 - Policy compliance checked and updated to 3.5.8, no changes needed
630 - TODO: remove some tasks which are done
631 - ship README-contrib and TODO in the doc dir
632 - Sec "Upstream home page": some revisions based on discussion on
634 - Sec "Documentation" added under Sec "Common packaging situations"
635 for best practices for documentation
636 - Add tools entries for autotools-dev, dpkg-repack, alien, debsums;
637 new Sec "Documentation and information", add entries there for
638 debview, debiandoc-sgml, debian-keyring; we believe this manual now
639 covers all of the established, general Debian maintainer tool
641 - spell-checking pass
643 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Thu, 12 Dec 2002 13:45:23 -0500
645 developers-reference (3.2.1) unstable; urgency=low
648 - Sec "Best practices for debian/control" added, Sec "Writing useful
649 descriptions" moved under there
650 - Sec "Upstream home page" added in debian/control section
651 - Sec "Miscellaneous advice" empty, removed
652 - Sec "Overview of maintainer tools": tools now categorized into
653 subgroups; do cross-linking from this section into other parts of
654 the document where these tools are discussed
655 - Sec "Overview of maintainer tools": add entries for sbuild,
656 build-essential, linda; improved entries for pbuilder, devscripts
657 - Sec "Tools for porters" renamed and readapted to "Porting
658 infrastructure and automation"; move tool discussion down to the
659 appendix; improve Sec "buildd" a bit
660 - README-contrib added giving information for authors, contributors,
662 - eliminate the ByHand stuff, I'm pretty sure it's not needed now
663 with the DDP builder process, or if it is needed, it's a probably
664 that can be fixed by DDP folks
665 - stop shipping SGML source -- use 'apt-get source developers-reference'
666 after all, this is supposed to be a binary package, right?
667 - simply PS and PDF building rules
669 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Mon, 9 Dec 2002 03:04:19 -0500
671 developers-reference (3.2) unstable; urgency=low
674 - merged a bit misplaced lintian-reports section within the lintian
675 section and adjusted links
676 - added the missing description of dh-make and adjusted links
678 - ChangeLog attribution updates
679 - fix typos, closes: #171781
680 - expand the doc-base abstract and authors
681 - Ch "Packaging Practices" rewritten intro
682 - Sec "Packaging tools and common cases" renamed to "Best Practices
683 for debian/rules", and write an intro
684 - Sec "Helper scripts" in practices section rewritten, giving
685 arguments for and against debhelper, mostly for :)
686 - Sec "Package with multiple patches" renamed to "Patching source
687 versus patching at build time" and rewritten
688 - Sec "Multiple binary packages" rewritten
689 - Sec "Handling debconf translations" moved under an
690 "Internationalization" section, and some edits
691 - Sec "Internationalized Documentation" added under Sec
692 "Internationalization"
693 - Sec "Specific packaging practices" renamed to "Common packaging situations"
694 - Sec "Packages using autoconf/automake" rewritten
695 - Sec "Configuration management" moved forward in practices chapter
696 - Sec "Other specific packages" renamed to "Specific types of
697 packages", add info for SGML/XML and Lisp packages
698 - Sec "Writing useful descriptions" heavily edited
699 - Sec "Best practices for maintainer scripts" added, special credit
700 here to Charles Briscoe-Smith for work dating back to 1998; include
701 a POSIX shell snippet showing how to check if a command is the PATH,
703 - Apdx "Overview of Debian Maintainer Tools": remove debget, it's
704 rather useless and broken
705 - normalize up-casing on sections, which should only up-case proper
706 names and the first word
707 - new 'translation-status' script to check status of translations,
708 adapted from doc-check in boot-floppies, source pkg only --
709 oh my, French translation is 54 CVS revisions behind, and Japanese
711 - postinst: don't set /usr/doc symlink, aesthetics
712 - prerm: don't use 'command -v', it's not POSIX
713 - rules: produce md5sums file; break out a 'test' target
715 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sat, 7 Dec 2002 02:28:06 -0500
717 developers-reference (3.1.2) unstable; urgency=low
720 - DDP publishing update
722 - doc-base file includes French and Japanese files
723 - debsign invocation was slightly wrong, closes: #170523
724 - Sec "Handling debconf translations", updates from Martin Quinson
725 for po-debconf with minimal editorial changes, closes: #169007
727 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Wed, 27 Nov 2002 21:16:30 -0500
729 developers-reference (3.1.1) unstable; urgency=low
732 - updated IRC stuff, thanks to Ben Armstrong, closes: #161403
733 - fixed/updated/extended stuff about bugs, hoping to address the
734 issue of people abusing the changelog bug closing feature
736 - added myself as co-author
737 - fix a typo in Sec "Collaborative maintenance", closes: #161488
739 - updated security information, merging in Joey's stuff from the
740 Security Team FAQ and various updates and clarifications
742 - fix some bad URLs, closes: #168357
743 - fix a grammar typo, closes: #166098
745 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Tue, 12 Nov 2002 23:15:03 -0500
747 developers-reference (3.1) unstable; urgency=low
750 - Corrected several errors with —
751 - Applied patch from Peter Palfrader, correcting
752 the URL for the Debian Voting Information page. closes: #150427
753 - Applied patch from Matej Vela, dpkg-buildpackage does no more
754 require -sa for version -0.1. closes: #150861
755 - Applied the reformulations proposed by David Kimdon. closes: #150572
756 - Applied the patch of Matt Zimmerman. Thanks Matt! closes: #145287
757 - Added the explanation about how to replace an .orig.tar.gz.
759 - Mostly deleted the paragraph about security upload in the
760 section explaining source NMU. Just added a link to point to
761 "Handling security-related bugs". closes: #159935
762 - Added a link to the Technical Committee web page (in the "Bug
763 housekeeping" section). closes: #151365
764 - Explain uploads to testing-proposed-updates, mentions briefly
765 stable-security and testing-security. closes: #149666
766 Removed the comment about uploads to frozen.
767 - Documented the "Developer's packages overview" web portal.
769 - Added a reference to debian-l10n-english in "Writing useful
770 descriptions". closes: #158609
771 - Added a Best Packaging Practice section for "Packages using
772 autoconf/automake". closes: #158045
773 - Documented associated features to db.debian.org like SSH key
774 replication and *.debian.net DNS entry. closes: #155389
775 - Added a section about "Bug Squashing Parties".
777 - removed obsolete, needless dupload variables
778 - applied linguistic fixes from David Kimdon, closes: #150572
779 - random proofreading, mostly changing he -> they
780 - added people.d.o and non-us.d.o to the Debian servers section, and
781 mostly rewrote it to exclude real machine names and be better organized
782 - updated the mailing lists section
784 - debian/changelog: remove obsolete Emacs variables
785 - editorial review of the changes above, minor tagging changes,
788 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Tue, 10 Sep 2002 21:57:41 -0400
790 developers-reference (3.0) unstable; urgency=low
793 - welcome Manoj Srivastava as a co-maintainer
794 - welcome Raphael Hertzog as a co-maintainer
796 - new Chapter "Resource for Debian Developers", incorporating
798 Ch "Mailing Lists, Servers, and Other Machines"
799 Ch "The Debian Archive"
801 - new Chapter "Managing Packages", incorporating former chapters
803 Ch "Non-Maintainer Uploads (NMUs)"
804 Ch "Porting and Being Ported"
805 Ch "Moving, Removing, Renaming, Adopting, and Orphaning Packages"
806 Ch "Handling Bugs" (retitled "Handling package bugs")
807 Sec "Bug housekeeping" (new section, some parts stubbed out)
809 - new Chapter "Beyond Packaging" recommends ways to contribute
810 to Debian beyond issues of package maintenance; incoporates
811 Ch "Interaction with Prospective Developers", retitled to
812 Sec "Interacting with Prospective Debian Developers"
813 Sec "Submitting Bugs", renamed to "Reporting Bugs"
814 Sec "QA" moved here from old Sec "Quality Assurance effort"
815 Sec "Dealing with unreachable maintainers"
817 - Sec "The Developers Database" added under Resources
818 - new Sec "Collaborative Maintenance" concerning multiple maintainers
821 - Sec "Getting started": add link to New Maintainers' Guide
822 - Sec "Debian Mentors" renamed to "Debian Mentors and Sponsors",
823 we add some info on sponsoring; also in Sec "Sponsoring packages"
824 - Section's first word capitalized, rest are normal case
825 - purge a reference to the Packaging Manual; closes: #145039
826 - misc. cross-referencing with new or moved sections
827 - change some literal quotes to ‘, ”, etc.
828 - tagging improvements: replace <tt> with <file> for files and
829 directories; since <tt><var> and <example><var> doesn't look right,
830 work-around with <...>
831 - entity'ize master.debian.org, us-upload-dir, non-us-upload-dir
832 - update copyright date
833 - some simplifications on the TeX suffix rule
834 - spell check and grammar corrections
838 - changed -e by -m in the dpkg-buildpackage command line example;
840 - clarify wording between "porter upload", "binary-only NMU", "simple
841 recompile"; closes: #102626
842 - extended "removing a package"; closes: #135560
843 - Ch "Best Packaging Practices": new chapter, including new
844 Sec "Writing useful descriptions" as a first entry in that
845 chapter; closes: #53109, #129848
846 - indicate that the list of subsections is defined in the policy;
848 - removed some cruft in `Announcing package uploads'
849 - document the testing scripts; closes: #129445
850 - explain how to reassign/close bugs of removed packages;
852 - updates the note about software subject to US patents;
854 - new Section "Contacting other maintainers" under "Beyond packaging"
855 Document the package@packages.debian.org alias; closes: #114553
856 - new Section "Package's information" under Resources
857 Document http://packages.debian.org/<package>,
858 http://bugs.debian.org/<package> and the madison utility
859 - Sec "Reporting bugs": added http://bugs.debian.org/from:email@isp.com
860 - Sec "Handling bugs": added http://bugs.debian.org/login@debian.org
861 - Sec "The Incoming system" in "Resources", describe how it works and
862 also speak of the DELAYED directory; closes: #135562, #136774
864 - Sec "Developer Database": added a sentence about finger
866 - update the total number of packages and the example directory tree
868 - updated the list of available architectures.
869 - commented out the "Subsections" section since it will RSN have nothing
870 to with the Debian archive. It's just a generic information field
871 of the package and nothing more.
872 - added more incentive to use experimental since it doesn't cause
873 any pain to the ftpmasters.
874 - Sec "When to do a source NMU": updated the NMU "protocol" and suggest
875 the use of the delayed queue.
876 - new Section "Acknowledging the NMUs" to explain the need to integrate
877 the changes introduced by NMUs. Insists on the fact that one shouldn't
879 - stubbed in new Section "Collaborative maintenance"
880 - stubbed in new Section "The Package Tracking System"
881 - Sec "The Package Tracking System": filled with content from
882 Francesco Paolo Lovergine, heavily updated by myself
883 - new Section "Managing sponsored packages" contributed by
884 Francesco Paolo Lovergine, slightly updated by myself
885 - new Sec "Bug housekeeping"; closes: #39519
887 - new Sec "Documentation"
888 - added Sec "IRC channels" in the Resources chapter
889 - added Sec "pbuilder" in the appendix. Mention it in the section
890 "Being kind to porter" too
891 - extended Sec "devscripts" with info about "bts" and "uscan"
892 - completed Sec "Helper scripts"
893 - completed Sec "Package with multiple patches",
894 "Multiple binary packages", "Libraries", "Other specific packages",
895 "The wise use of debconf" -- all those are quite simplistic, they
897 - integrated Sec "Handling debconf translations" contributed by
898 Denis Barbier -- thanks, Denis!
901 - update French translation
903 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 14 Jun 2002 01:18:19 -0400
905 developers-reference (2.11) unstable; urgency=low
908 - some grammar corrections
909 - update French translation
911 - changes in upload situation, not possible to remove from Incoming
912 anymore; closes: #135559
913 - also talk about dput a tiny bit
915 - Ch "Overview of Debian Maintainer Tools":
917 - Charles Briscoe-Smith deprecates yada (I think new maintainers of
918 that would be welcome)
919 - debconf-doc mentioned for debconf
920 - debhelper: don't talk about debmake; mention how to get info on the dh-* pkgs
921 - dput: new section, closes: #129378
922 - debootstrap: new section, closes: #129377
923 - dpkg-dev-el: new section
924 - other minor wording changes
925 - Sec "Mailing Lists": where to find private archives, closes: #96780
926 - Ch "Package uploads":
927 - new Sec "Adding an entry to debian/changelog"
928 - rename Sec "Announcing new packages" to "New packages"
929 - crypto is in main, non-US is for patent restrictions, so:
930 - excise some text from "Registering as a Debian developer"
931 - changes in Sec "Uploading to ftp-master"
932 - changes in Sec "Uploading to non-US"
933 * old bugs closed out, closes: #110573
935 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 7 Apr 2002 23:34:08 -0700
937 developers-reference (2.10.0) unstable; urgency=low
939 * from Martin Michlmayr
940 - update the "Applying to Become a New Maintainer" section, with
941 review by Raphael Hertzog, closes: #133965
942 - bugs closed in NMUs should uses 'closes' changelog entries,
944 - developers are not required to subscribe to debian-private
946 - some suggestions on places to use the proper term, Debian GNU/Linux,
948 - fix some typos, closes: #133956
950 - frozen doesn't exist anymore, just testing; note, however, that
951 there is a way to upload to 'woody-proposed-updates' -- if I can
952 find some description of that, I'll document it; closes: #133948
955 - isolate a few more language-independent bits
957 - change /usr/doc to /usr/share/doc, and typo in debian/copyright,
960 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 24 Feb 2002 14:46:46 -0500
962 developers-reference (2.9.0) unstable; urgency=low
965 - created a new subsection about uploading to stable, and elaborated
967 - removed a stray sentence about stable from the paragraph about
968 security uploads (which apply to all distributions equally)
969 - replaced the nonexistent term "Security Manager" with "security officer"
970 - uploading to stable and unstable is deprecated; updated the section
971 about the experimental distribution; other fixes in the section
972 talking about uploading to distributions
973 - better organize some subsections in the section about package uploads
974 - replaced some bogus <ftppath>s with <tt>s
975 - noted how there is an upload queue on pandora, too
977 - French translation updated
979 - normalize '--' as — for prettier output
980 - integrate changes from James Troup, part of #102626
981 - typo fix thanks to Mark Hodge
983 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 21 Oct 2001 01:03:01 -0400
985 developers-reference (2.8.8) unstable; urgency=low
988 - a few more strong words about sponsoring
989 - started a new chapter about the relationship between old and new
992 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 20 Jul 2001 17:53:47 -0400
994 developers-reference (2.8.7) unstable; urgency=low
997 * fix a typo in a link
998 * dpkg-buildpackage -m<addr> flag was changed for -e<addr> when NMU'ing;
999 update documentation accordingly
1001 * Matt Zimmerman fixes up some wording in the section talking about
1002 forwarding bugs upstream
1004 * provide proper l10n for SGML date entities; now we have &date-<LANG>
1005 entities which should be used
1006 * debian/rules: fixes for new debiandoc-sgml
1007 * debian/control: depend on debiandoc-sgml 1.1.48 or better
1009 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Thu, 21 Jun 2001 14:43:42 -0400
1011 developers-reference (2.8.6) unstable; urgency=low
1013 * fix a typo, thanks to Antoine Hulin
1014 * French version: completely up-to-date now
1015 * Makefile: add a 'validate' target
1016 * prepare and ship "upstream" ChangeLog; move the debian changelog to
1018 * all versions: change the email address to use when orphaning
1021 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 13 Apr 2001 03:32:08 -0400
1023 developers-reference (2.8.5) unstable; urgency=low
1025 * expunge references to the Debian Packaging Manual, which is now in the
1027 * Japanese version: also comment out some references packaging manual;
1028 this translation needs updating
1029 * deny request to shut down non-maintainer bug maintenance bug closure
1030 practices (closes: Bug#88623)
1031 * add some advice about U.S. citizens uploading to non-US
1033 * debian/control: Build-Depends should have been Build-Depends-Indep
1034 * French version: First complete translation of the Debian developer's
1035 reference guide. Much work done by Antoine Hulin. Reviewed by Nicolas
1037 * Portuguese version: work is started by Carlos Laviola, nothing
1038 included yet, however
1040 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 8 Apr 2001 01:25:51 -0400
1042 developers-reference (2.8.4) unstable; urgency=low
1044 * debian/control: remove reference to obsolete packaging-manual package
1046 * debian/control: fill in the description a bit more
1047 * doc-base: index.html corrected to be index.en.html
1049 * Makefile: clean is cleaner
1051 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 25 Feb 2001 12:47:06 -0500
1053 developers-reference (2.8.3) unstable; urgency=low
1055 * build and provide French and Japanese versions
1056 * devolve build logic from debian/rules to top-level Makefile
1057 * developers-reference.jp.sgml: minor changes so it will build (is out
1059 * debian/rules: stop making useless /usr/share/developers-reference dir
1061 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Mon, 22 Jan 2001 02:02:02 -0500
1063 developers-reference (2.8.2) unstable; urgency=low
1066 - fix typographic errors reported by David Martinez (closes: Bug#80740)
1067 - common.ent: upped the numbers a little bit, updated lintian reports URL
1068 - updated regarding va->klecker move, and www->people move, changed
1069 most mentions of dinstall to a generic term "archive maintenance
1070 software", removed full path to it because it is in PATH now,
1071 mentioned "dak" and "katie" (somewhat vaguely), changed week to
1072 month regarding FTP archive waiting time since that\'s more often
1073 the case, and changed weeks to hours regarding Maintainers file
1074 updates since that\'s also more often the case now, updated some
1075 URLs to entities, s/debian-doc/doc-debian/
1076 - replaced evil latin1-only quotation marks, replaced mentions of
1077 important severity (in RCB context) with serious severity, some
1079 - common.ent (1.10): fixed email-debian-user alias; updated
1080 sample-dist-dirtree (with more to come)
1081 - described testing; described package pools (this particular part
1082 required quite a bit of changes, and it might be a bit rough, but
1083 it's a start); described the frozen test cycles et al; some other
1085 - another update WRT sid/unstable/testing, from Colin Watson
1087 * debian/control: add Recommends for debian-policy, packaging-manual
1088 * update copyright notice for 2001
1089 * fix for WNPP bug filing severities from David Schleef
1090 * clarify the status of the Developers's reference as "normative"
1091 * add a reference to debconf (closes: Bug#82413)
1093 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 21 Jan 2001 18:10:21 -0500
1095 developers-reference (2.8.1) unstable; urgency=low
1097 * update WNPP instructions, based on patch from Marcelo E. Magallon
1099 * spelling corrections, awkward grammar suggestions from Andreas Krueger
1101 * debian/rules: remove some obsolete source-depends stuff
1103 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sat, 4 Nov 2000 13:22:21 -0500
1105 developers-reference (2.8.0) unstable; urgency=low
1107 * Almost all changes for this release are from Josip Rodin
1108 <joy@debian.org>. Thanks, Josip!
1110 * debian/control, postinst, prerm, rules: Policy 3.2.1 (closes:
1111 Bug#68929, Bug#70384)
1112 * fixed bug closing example (closes: Bug#71198)
1113 * update the perl regexp from current /usr/lib/dpkg/parsechangelog/debian
1114 * updated keyring/keyserver information (closes: Bug#67783)
1115 * updated new-maintainer stuff (closes: Bug#67841)
1116 * updated for master -> ftp-master move (closes: Bug#68369)
1117 * noted www.d.o is the right host for web pages, but all other machines
1118 could be used if necessary
1119 * reorder mentions of scp to come before FTP, as it is more secure;
1120 mention the rsync dupload method
1121 * reorder mentions of pandora <-> non-us, canonical name non-us is
1123 * other small corrections
1124 * fixed orphaning/adopting instructions with regard to the new WNPP
1125 * common.ent: fix urls for cvs.d.o, wnpp, Debian machines page,
1126 lists-archives, www.d.o BTS
1127 * common.ent: changed link for machines from devel/maintainer_contacts
1129 * Makefile: remove unnecessary subshell
1131 * Adam's change: update debian/copyright for new Policy, and put my name
1132 in there a bit with updated years; update doc-base file for FHS
1134 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 15 Oct 2000 03:25:21 -0400
1136 developers-reference (2.7.2) frozen unstable; urgency=medium
1138 * I believe this should go into frozen because (a) it's only
1139 documentation, so it can't introduce RC bugs, and (b) it fixes an
1140 error which prevented it from building properly; however, whatever
1141 ftpmaster feels is best is fine
1143 * include common.ent as well as version.ent
1144 (closes: Bug#52582, Bug#48926)
1145 * debian/rules: fix build error caused by newer debiandoc-sgml; remove
1146 constitution.en.html, since that is now located in the doc-debian
1147 package (closes: Bug#54778, Bug#42014); don't compress .pdf file
1149 * All changes below from Raphael Hertzog <hertzog@debian.org>
1151 * Sec. "Uploading to master" and "Uploading to pandora":
1152 explained dinstall -n (closes: Bug#45079)
1153 * Sec. "Picking a distribution": added reference to the debian-release
1154 team (closes: Bug#52906)
1155 * Sec. "Announcing package uploads": rewrote it to take care of the fact
1156 that dinstall is doing it automatically (closes: Bug#43877)
1157 * Sec. "Mailing lists": added a paragraph about debian-email
1159 * Changed the "Maintaining Your Debian Information" into "Debian
1160 Developer's Duties" (closes: Bug#28908)
1161 - added a section about the LDAP database
1162 - added a section about the "on vacation" message
1163 - added a section about the coordination with upstream developers
1165 - added a section about managing Release Critical bugs
1166 - added a section about Quality Assurance effort
1168 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 16 Apr 2000 23:24:33 -0400
1170 developers-reference (2.7.1) unstable; urgency=low
1172 * Sec. "Registering as a Debian developer": we are transitioning away
1173 from non-free PGP -- remove allusions to non-free software such as
1174 PGPv2 or v5 insofar as possible; recommend use of DSS keys rather than
1176 * Sec. "Maintaining Your Public Key": remove PGP-centric stuff
1177 * Sec. "When bugs are closed by new uploads": describe how to close bugs
1178 via a magic changelog entry (closes: Bug#43690)
1179 * Sec. "Generating the changes file": refer to Sec. "When bugs are
1180 closed by new uploads" for closing bugs via a changelog entry
1181 * developers-reference.sgml: re-enable RCS variables in CVS sources
1182 * debian/control,rules: dynamically generate the TOC in the package
1183 description from developers-reference.sgml
1185 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 12 Sep 1999 18:15:59 -0400
1187 developers-reference (2.7.0) unstable; urgency=low
1189 * developers-reference.sgml: separated out language-independant elements
1190 into common.ent (not content changes); misc minor grammar changes
1192 * doc-base: change section for *constitution* to Debian (not 'debian')
1194 * Sec. "Stable, unstable, and sometimes frozen": mention how old stable
1195 releases are available at archive.debian.org
1196 * Sec. "Uploading to pandora (non-us)" added, remove stale
1197 information about the old anonymous ftp area (closes Bug#39541);
1198 Sec. "Other Upload Queues" added about that upload queues, added
1199 samosa and master.debian.org.jp (closes Bug#37804)
1200 * Sec. "Yada": mention that yada might not be as robust as other package
1201 producing systems, at request of the author; Sec. "equivs" added
1202 * Sec. "Moving packages": at the request of Guy Maor, clarify that this
1203 procedure is for moving packages in sections (i.e., free, contrib)
1205 * Sec. "Registering as a Debian developer": talk about RSA keys rather
1206 than PGP keys, since I think GPG can create/handle them now; mention
1207 that the official pkg maintainer address much match an ID on your key;
1208 * Sec. "Maintaining Your Public Key": beef up the warnings a bit; point
1210 * Sec. "Mailing Lists, Servers, and Other Machines": clean up and
1211 clarify section; mention that all developers are expected to be
1212 subscribed to debian-private and debian-devel-announce
1213 * Sec. "Other Debian Machines": remove list of machines; point to
1214 http://www.debian.org/devel/machines instead
1215 * Sec. "Release code names": potato is 2.2
1216 * Sec. "Guidelines for Porter Uploads": talk about recompile only
1217 uploads and version numbers for this (i.e., foo_2.4-1.0.1), from a
1218 suggestion from James Troup
1219 * Sec. "buildd": mention andrea, and buildd.debian.org
1220 * Sec. "Removing packages": correct apt-cache usage
1221 * debain/rules: update standards to 3.0.1 -- since I'm not moving
1222 /usr/doc to /usr/share/doc yet, no changes were required except in the
1225 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Mon, 16 Aug 1999 23:29:45 -0400
1227 developers-reference (2.6.8) unstable; urgency=low
1229 * when applying as a new user, the login name can be *eight* characters,
1230 not seven (thanks to Rafael Caetano dos Santos)
1232 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 21 May 1999 21:50:04 -0400
1234 developers-reference (2.6.7) unstable; urgency=low
1236 * SGML'ish: normalize SGML elements, refill paragraphs (closes Bug#37987)
1237 * doc-base: change section to Debian -- hmm, this looks like a doc-base
1238 bug, really, but hey, who am I to refile bugs to another one of my own
1239 packages? (closes Bug#37392)
1240 * Ch. "Overview of Debian Maintainer Tools": new section for yada (um,
1241 someone who uses this should check my description), correct build ->
1242 debuild in the devscripts section (closes Bug#38053)
1244 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 21 May 1999 01:41:45 -0400
1246 developers-reference (2.6.6) unstable; urgency=low
1248 * Sec. "The master server": note that problems on Debian ftp can be sent
1249 to ftpmaster@debian.org also
1250 * Secs. "Uploads via chiark" and "Uploads via erlangen": remove
1251 'cron-driven' (thanks Roman Hodek)
1252 * Sec. "Being Kind to Porters": typos corrected, note that binary-arch
1253 and binary-indep targets should work independantly (thanks Roman
1255 * Sec. "buildd": remove erroneous reference to debbuild, reorganize the
1256 section and correct typos (thank again Roman -- boy, this is the all
1258 * debian/rules: re-enable letter-sized PDFs
1260 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 9 May 1999 01:17:29 -0400
1262 developers-reference (2.6.5) unstable; urgency=low
1264 * Sec. "Architectures": correction on supported architecture in Linux
1266 * Sec. "Experimental": other reasons to use or not use the experiment
1267 archive "section", from comments by Guy Maor
1268 * Sec. "Being Kind to Porters": replace x86 with i386 (closes Bug#36485)
1269 * debian/rules: date printing protected from local l10n (closes Bug#36891)
1270 * Ch. "Mailing Lists, Servers, and Other Machines": renamed chapter; add
1272 * Sec. "Debian Servers": new, for talking about the standard servers,
1273 with intro; demoted server sections under that
1274 * Sec. "The FTP servers": was empty, removed
1275 * Sec. "The master server": fill in more info and cross-refs on how to
1277 * Sec. "The CVS server": add some more detail which should be included
1278 when requesting cvs areas; mention the cvsweb URL
1279 * Sec. "Other Debian Machines": new section, list the machines for which
1280 a normal developer may have access.
1282 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Tue, 4 May 1999 03:32:21 -0400
1284 developers-reference (2.6.4) unstable; urgency=low
1286 * debian/rules: hack 'byhand' file entries to include debian version
1287 number in it, so subsequent uploads of the package into Incoming don't
1288 step all over each other
1290 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 9 Apr 1999 20:04:04 -0400
1292 developers-reference (2.6.3) unstable; urgency=low
1294 * correction from James Troup -- <keyring-maint> is indeed the correct
1295 address for PGP key updates
1297 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 4 Apr 1999 13:28:58 -0400
1299 developers-reference (2.6.2) unstable; urgency=low
1301 * Sec. "fakeroot": libtricks is not replacing anything after all
1302 * developers-reference.sgml: use public declaration
1303 * BTW, if any maintainers of translated versions of this document would
1304 like to talk to me about folding your version into the
1305 developers-reference CVS area, please get in touch with me
1307 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 4 Apr 1999 04:42:29 -0400
1309 developers-reference (2.6.1) unstable; urgency=low
1311 * include Debian constitution (closes Bug#30694)
1312 * Sec. "fakeroot": libtricks is replacing fakeroot, not libtool
1313 * Sec. "Maintaining Your Public Key" -- give email addresses as
1314 {pgp,gpg}-update@debian.org, at James Troup's request (note to Jameas,
1315 if you see this: /usr/doc/debian-keyring/README.gz talks about
1316 <keyring-maint> instead)
1317 * Ch. "Overview of Debian Maintainer Tools" -- add Sec. "debget"
1318 * developers-reference.sgml: minor typo correction from Tril
1320 * doc-base stuff: add abstract to developers-reference, new file for
1322 * debian/rules: minor cleanup and consistency; build PDF, not PS file;
1323 ship PDF file;.text file now has .txt extension
1324 * debian/control: set priority to optional, matching archive
1326 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sat, 3 Apr 1999 17:17:06 -0500
1328 developers-reference (2.6.0) frozen unstable; urgency=low
1330 * would be nice to sneak this into slink; it's just documentation!
1331 * Ch. "Porting and Being Ported": porter information broken out into it's
1332 own chapter, Sec. "Guidelines for Porter Uploads" and "When to do a
1333 source NMU if you are a porter" moved to this chapter; porter tool
1334 descriptions such as 'quinn-diff' moved to this section. Sec. "Being
1335 Kind to Porters" added, with tips for how to avoid making problems for
1337 * Ch. "Non-Maintainer Uploads (NMUs)": update for the new chapter, and
1338 tighten up the language a bit
1339 * Sec. "Monitoring bugs": add a little cron job to get an 'index maint'
1340 of outstanding bugs (closes Bug#31259), loosen language a tiny bit
1341 w.r.t. non-maintainers or submitters closing bugs (closes Bug#30394)
1342 * Sec. "Scope of This Document": point out that this file is not
1344 * Ch. "Handling Bugs": renamed from "Handling Bug Reports", incorporate
1345 some suggestions from James Troup, namely, don't mail from your root
1346 account, don't close bugs via control@bugs.debian.org; break out new
1347 sections, "Submitting Bugs" and "Responding to Bugs"
1348 * Ch. "Overview of Debian Maintainer Tools": remove attribution for
1349 package maintainers, since I can't keep up; add entries for fakeroot
1351 * Ch. "Maintaining Your Debian Information": new chapter, quite small
1352 right now; it mentions keyring-maint@debian.org for key modification,
1353 warns against putting private keys on multi-user machines, and talks
1354 about how to depart Debian gracefully
1355 * typo correction from Christian Hudon (closes Bug#32052)
1356 * menu file removed, obsoleted by doc-base file
1357 * parameterize some often-changing values with SGML entities, update
1358 number of available packages
1359 * use new way of notating multiple copyrights
1360 * change <tt> elements to <file> where appropriate
1362 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Thu, 11 Feb 1999 02:53:55 -0500
1364 developers-reference (2.5.0.5) unstable; urgency=low
1366 * add version.ent to docdir, needed to reconstruct from SGML
1369 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Tue, 29 Dec 1998 02:42:50 -0500
1371 developers-reference (2.5.0.4) unstable; urgency=low
1373 * not officially released
1374 * more spelling corrections
1375 * s/ppc/powerpc/ (thanks, James Troup)
1377 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 18 Dec 1998 00:07:40 -0500
1379 developers-reference (2.5.0.3) unstable; urgency=low
1381 * not officially released
1382 * Sec. "Removing a package from Incoming": tiny section added
1383 * some PGP-centricity removed
1384 * Sec. "Adopting a package": point out that hijacking packages is not ok
1385 * Ch. "Non-Maintainer Uploads (NMUs) and Porters": change 'NMU' to
1386 'source NMU', 'port' to 'binary NMU', shorten the window for porters a
1387 tad; fix spelling; stress that non-maintainer patches must be
1388 non-disruptive and that aesthetic issues are not suitable for fixing
1389 by non-maintainers; other fixes as suggested by interested parties
1391 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Wed, 25 Nov 1998 00:01:27 -0500
1393 developers-reference (2.5.0.2) frozen unstable; urgency=low
1395 * not officially released
1396 * maintainer name change (but it's still me)
1397 * Ch. "Non-Maintainer Uploads (NMUs) and Porters": new chapter
1398 discussing NMUs and porters; Section "Interim Releases" integrated out
1399 of existance. New TOC for this section is:
1400 * 6 Non-Maintainer Uploads (NMUs) and Porters
1401 + 6.1 Who can do a port or an NMU
1402 + 6.2 When to do a port or an NMU
1403 o 6.2.1 When to do an NMU if you are a porter
1404 + 6.3 How to do an NMU
1405 o 6.3.1 NMU version numbering
1406 o 6.3.2 NMUs must create a changelog entry
1407 o 6.3.3 NMUs must send patches, if any, to the BTS
1408 o 6.3.4 Building the NMU
1409 + 6.4 Guidelines for Porters
1411 * Sec. "Maintainer changes": renamed to "Adopting a package" and moved
1412 to Chapter "Moving, Removing, Renaming, Adopting, and Orphaning
1414 * Sec. "Reporting lots of bugs at once": more forcefully deprecate this
1416 * Sec. "Adopting a package": mention that the BTS maintainer update can
1417 take a couple of weeks
1418 * Sec. "Overview of Debian Maintainer Tools": give credit where credit
1419 is due and attribute current maintainers; add `apt'; add `quinn-diff';
1420 add mention of as yet unreleased 'buildd' package, since I'm so
1421 excited about it and can't wait
1422 * Sec. "Removing packages": talk about how apt-cache can be used to look
1423 at reverse depends, a good step to take prior to removing a package
1425 * show *full* TOC, including sect2
1426 * of course the obligatory typo, grammar, and spelling corrections
1428 * Makefile: small changes to accomodate DDP autobuild
1429 * debian/dirs: obsolete, removed
1430 * debian/rules: use changelog date for SGML timestamping, not current date
1432 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 20 Nov 1998 12:27:53 -0500
1434 developers-reference (2.5.0) frozen unstable; urgency=low
1436 * move to 3-level version number:
1437 top-level version number probably won't change for a while, it is the
1438 "major", the second-level number means significant content changes,
1439 and the third-level change means corrections and minor improvements.
1440 Since this version has significant content changes, we are now 2.5.0.
1441 Since I'm going to put porter instructions in the next major rev, that
1444 * use new <package> tag where appropriate (Ardo, you rock)
1445 * replace 'm86k' with 'm68k'
1446 * rename 'Whirlwind Tour of ...' section to 'Overview of ...' (suggested
1448 * typos and "red-pen" corrections, fix cosmetic problems in PostScript
1450 * remove the one case I use an URL fragment identifier, since
1451 debiandoc-sgml doesn't like it (bug filed against debiandoc-sgml)
1452 * debian/rules: cosmetic cleanups, loosen check for root
1453 * debian/rules: build PostScript version during build, since it's nice
1454 to have all my debiandoc2* scripts together
1455 * debian/control: policy compliant to 2.5.0
1457 * advise against uploading when a package has lintian problems of
1459 * "Mailing Lists and Servers":
1460 - "The master server": mention how master is the home of the BTS;
1461 mention how users need to take care with their accounts on master
1462 - "The WWW servers": fill in www.debian.org, first pass, and discuss
1463 how to put up your own web pages on va or master
1464 - "The CVS server": new section added
1465 - "Mirrors of Debian servers": new section added; point to info about
1467 * "Applying to Become a Maintainer": do not advise resending initial
1468 application; instead, simply mail a followup asking new maintainers
1469 whether they go the initial application (closes Bug #28739); mention
1470 that calls usually come in the evening; mention that if you use PGP
1471 v5, you need to generate an RSA key (right?); clarify our intentions
1472 with respect to GPG.
1473 * "Release code names": Debian 2.2 is 'potato'
1474 * "Distribution directories": give concrete examples, hopefully making
1475 it clearer where to look in Debian archives for specific stuff;
1476 mention that old distributions are moved to archive servers (is there
1477 a canonical location?)
1478 * "The override file": new section, added under "Notification that a new
1479 package has been installed"; fill it out quite a bit
1480 * "Uploading to *": reiterate thrice not to upload export
1481 controlled-software to master, or the European queues on erlangen and
1483 * "Picking a distribution": section broken out from "Generating the
1485 * "Uploading to frozen": new section, almost straight from Brian White
1486 (hope you don't mind!) -- isn't that topical?
1487 * "Interim releases": if you NMU a new upstream version (0.1), run
1488 'dpkg-buildpackage -sa'
1490 -- Adam P. Harris <aph@debian.org> Thu, 12 Nov 1998 00:03:43 -0500
1492 developers-reference (2.4.1.5) unstable; urgency=low
1494 * Fix instructions for new maintainers, incorporating the actual text
1495 sent to prospective new maintainers. Improve this text a bit for
1496 readability, coverage, and organization. Significant changes were
1497 patched back to the new-maintainers group, if they care to use
1498 them. (closes Bug#26948)
1499 * Add an introductory "Scope" chapter which helps delineate what should
1500 and should not be included in this Reference.
1501 * Add a new chapter, "Whirlwind Tour of Debian Maintainer Tools". Let
1502 me know what useful tools I forgot -- remember, Debian-specific
1503 maintainer tools only!
1504 * Add discussion of the "experimental" distribution, culled from an email
1505 from Guy Maor on debian-devel.
1506 * Incorporated suggestions from Branden Robinson (closes Bug#27211).
1507 * Point to doc-debian's mailing list instructions where relevant.
1508 * Made references to online documentation into URLs where possible.
1509 * Little corrections here and there.
1510 * add a Makefile for use in the DDP manual hierarchy
1511 * debian/rules: comment out my 'source-depends' hack; it's just slowing
1514 -- Adam P. Harris <aph@debian.org> Thu, 1 Oct 1998 03:42:43 -0400
1516 developers-reference (2.4.1.4) unstable; urgency=low
1518 * fill in Section "The master server" a bit; other servers to follow
1519 * in Section "Distribution directories", mention that distributions
1520 are always in 'dists' subdir of the Debian archive; talk about
1522 * in Section "Release code names", talk about 'sid' a bit
1523 * in Section "Interim releases", talk about how non-maintainers should
1524 use the BTS, and bug severity "fixed" (closes Bug#17524)
1525 * in Section "Generating the changes file", talk about how to set the
1526 distribution in the debian/changelog file (i.e., "frozen unstable")
1527 * add a new Section "Checking the package prior to upload" to Section
1528 "Uploading a package", mentioning lintian and other tests one should
1529 do prior to uploading
1530 * add new Section "Notification that a new package has been installed"
1531 in Section "Uploading a package", talking about dinstall and the
1533 * add new Sections "Moving packages", "Removing packages", "Replacing or
1534 renaming packages", and "Orphaning a package" (closes Bug#26650)
1535 * add new Section "Bugs in your packages", talking about maintainer
1536 duties with respect to bugs
1537 * add new Section "Lintian reports" under "Handling bugs reports",
1538 talking about how maintainers should check their packages with lintian
1539 every now and then, alternatively pointing them to the lintian web
1541 * clarify, a bit, the use of "section" and "subsection", bringing it
1542 into line with the usage in the Policy Manual and Packaging Manual
1543 * grammar and markup changes throughout
1544 * debian/rules: added a crude source-depends rule, which renders more
1545 explicit what is used to build this package
1547 -- Adam P. Harris <aph@debian.org> Mon, 21 Sep 1998 00:51:46 -0400
1549 developers-reference (2.4.1.3) unstable; urgency=low
1552 * version number and date are automatically populated now
1553 * changed doc-base section to "debian"
1554 * debian/rules: better abstraction and organization
1555 * reformat SGML like I happen to like it
1556 * utilize the new URL tag
1557 * build PostScript on letter size, I hear thats better for A4 and US
1560 -- Adam P. Harris <aph@debian.org> Thu, 16 Jul 1998 00:52:35 -0400
1562 developers-reference (2.4.1.2) frozen unstable; urgency=low
1564 * non-maintainer release
1565 * rebuilt since HTML versions of Chapters 1 and 2 were truncated
1566 (important bug, no number yet, bugs.debian.org isn't working;
1567 regardless, this should go in hamm because a broken developers
1568 reference won't win us many friends in hamm, and after all, it's just
1569 text, it can't hurt you.)
1570 * no content changes, except that the version number in the SGML file
1571 reflect this packages version number
1572 * debian/rule: clean is cleaner now
1574 -- Adam P. Harris <aph@debian.org> Tue, 16 Jun 1998 01:35:39 -0400
1576 developers-reference (2.4.1.1) frozen unstable; urgency=low
1580 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Thu, 14 May 1998 21:56:36 +0200
1582 developers-reference (2.4.1.0) frozen unstable; urgency=low
1584 * New version numbering scheme:
1586 - The version numbers are independent of dpkg now, but all policy
1587 manuals (the Debian Policy Manual, the Debian Packaging Manual, and
1588 the Debian Developer's Reference) share the same version numbering
1591 - The first three digits of the version number specify the
1592 `Standards-Version.' This number is incremented with each policy
1593 change. The fourth digit represents the `patch-level,' which may
1594 differ between the manuals.
1596 If only the patch-level digit is incremented, no changes in policy
1597 have been made, except bug fixes and clarifications. Packages only
1598 have to specify the first three digits of the version number in the
1599 `Standards-Version' field of their source packages.
1601 * Uploaded to frozen and unstable. This is a documentation-only
1602 package and the changes to the manual are relevant for hamm.
1604 * No changes to the Developer's Reference
1606 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Mon, 13 Apr 1998 17:54:43 +0200
1608 developers-reference (0.5) unstable; urgency=low
1610 * Changes to the Developer's Reference:
1612 - Changed section 1.2 Registering as a Debian developer:
1613 + signatures from formal certification service are _NOT_ accepted
1615 + images of ID documents have to be PGP or RSA signed
1616 (as requested by James Troup)
1618 - Use current date instead of <date> in manual
1620 * Updated FSF's address (reported by Lintian)
1622 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Sat, 7 Mar 1998 13:52:15 +0100
1624 developers-reference (0.4) unstable; urgency=low
1626 * Changes to the Developer's Reference:
1628 - Renamed chapter 4 into `Package uploads'
1630 - New section 4.2.5 Uploading to the non-us server
1632 - Changed section 4.4 Interim releases:
1633 + non-maintainer releases should not close bugs
1634 + normal maintainer must at least read the patch provided with
1635 the non-maintainer release
1637 - New chapter 5 Handling bug reports:
1638 + when reporting more then 10 bugs on the same topic, a message
1639 has to be sent to debian-devel and the `maintonly' address
1642 - Lots of typos fixed
1644 * Compressed SGML source code
1646 * Added support for doc-base to register the Developer's Reference
1647 to the online documentation systems dwww and dhelp
1649 * Upgraded to standards version 2.4.0.0 (no changes)
1651 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Fri, 30 Jan 1998 21:58:34 +0100
1653 developers-reference (0.3) unstable; urgency=low
1655 * Put lost sections from Policy Manual 2.1.3.3 back in:
1656 - Generating the changes file (for uploads)
1657 - Announcing package uploads
1658 * New section about Debian Mentors
1659 * debian/rules: Don't use debstd anymore
1660 * debian/rules: Compress changelog file (fixes:#15441)
1661 * Fixed link to WNPP list (fixes:#16201)
1662 * Added menu entry (fixes:#15708)
1664 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Wed, 24 Dec 1997 13:54:33 +0100
1666 developers-reference (0.2) unstable; urgency=low
1668 * New chapter about `The Debian Archive' describing the structure
1669 of our FTP server and the development process
1670 * Added note that new maintainers have to read the Social Contract
1671 and have to know where to find the Policy and Packaging Manuals
1672 * PGP key ring is not distributed via dpkg but in doc/ of the FTP
1674 * Added note that cross posting between Debian lists is depreciated
1675 * New list of advantages why new packages should be discussed on
1676 debian-devel before they are uploaded
1677 * Added section about how packages are uploaded
1678 * Added note that the Security Managers may do interim releases without
1679 contacting the maintainer
1680 * Removed chapter about bug tracking system (will be included in
1681 a new manual released soon)
1682 * Some minor changes
1683 * Include SGML source in package
1684 * Don't use `2-up' style for PostScript version
1685 * Upgraded to Standards 2.3.0.1
1687 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Sun, 2 Nov 1997 20:53:26 +0100
1689 developers-reference (0.1) unstable; urgency=low
1693 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Tue, 8 Jul 1997 00:19:49 +0200