1 developers-reference (3.3.2) unstable; urgency=low
4 - French translation updated to version 3.3.1
5 - proofread by Philippe Batailler and Patrice Karatchentzeff
7 - French translation requires debiandoc-sgml 1.1.76 or better
9 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 18 Apr 2003 09:48:59 -0400
11 developers-reference (3.3.1) unstable; urgency=low
14 - package description said it contained French and Japanese, fixed,
16 - Sec "Experimental": sources.list entries
17 - Sec "Basic rules for [mailing list] use": cosmetic, link to this sec
18 - Sec "Handling bugs": retitle and expand section
20 - more improvements to package synopsis and description
21 - the synopsis formula changed to either
22 <package-name> is a <synopsis>
24 <package-name> is <synopsis>
26 <package-name> are <synopsis>
28 - the synopsis itself should not start with an article
29 - Sec "Best practices for debian/control": expand intro
30 - fix doc-check URL; closes: #187144
31 - Sec "Multiple binary packages": fix awkward wording about vim source
32 package; closes: #187143
34 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 4 Apr 2003 14:26:52 -0500
36 developers-reference (3.3) unstable; urgency=low
39 - French translation updated to version 3.2.2 (more or less)
40 - proofread by Philippe Batailler
42 - added "ddtp" keyword in the PTS documentation
44 - split out the doc-files per language, closes: #177448
45 - shuffled stuff around in the packages chapter
46 - added a section describing how to handle large amounts of
47 architecture-independent data bundled with programs
48 - added best practices on debian/changelog files, based on a patch
49 kindly provided by Daniel Kobras, closes: #166388
50 - described debdiff and dpkg-depcheck, and linked to them from the
51 right places in the document, closes: #172897
52 - describe the current practice in writing synopsis lines,
56 - convert to debhelper (compat mode 4); maintainer scripts no longer
58 - split -ja and -fr versions out into separate packages
59 - top-level makefile deletes targets on error; clean is cleaner
60 - replace the manual debian/control processing to show the document's
61 table of contents (TOC) with a new script 'debian/tocsubstvars';
62 note that the TOC displayed in the developers-reference-{fr,ja}
63 package descriptions are in English until UTF8 control files are
64 allowed; proper escaping of single quotes here requires newest
66 - editorial changes on material added in this version
67 - reorder "Best Packaging Practices" a bit
68 - rework "Best practices for debian/control" based on contributions
69 from Colin Walters, Branden Robinson, Sebastian Rittau and others;
70 closes: #139957, #108416
71 - primary author is developers-reference@packages.debian.org; remove
72 emails from other authors to prevent spam and confusion
74 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Mon, 24 Feb 2003 13:29:07 -0500
76 developers-reference (3.2.2) unstable; urgency=low
79 - slightly rewrote and updated links in the mirrors section
81 - Policy compliance checked and updated to 3.5.8, no changes needed
82 - TODO: remove some tasks which are done
83 - ship README-contrib and TODO in the doc dir
84 - Sec "Upstream home page": some revisions based on discussion on
86 - Sec "Documentation" added under Sec "Common packaging situations"
87 for best practices for documentation
88 - Add tools entries for autotools-dev, dpkg-repack, alien, debsums;
89 new Sec "Documentation and information", add entries there for
90 debview, debiandoc-sgml, debian-keyring; we believe this manual now
91 covers all of the established, general Debian maintainer tool
95 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Thu, 12 Dec 2002 13:45:23 -0500
97 developers-reference (3.2.1) unstable; urgency=low
100 - Sec "Best practices for debian/control" added, Sec "Writing useful
101 descriptions" moved under there
102 - Sec "Upstream home page" added in debian/control section
103 - Sec "Miscellaneous advice" empty, removed
104 - Sec "Overview of maintainer tools": tools now categorized into
105 subgroups; do cross-linking from this section into other parts of
106 the document where these tools are discussed
107 - Sec "Overview of maintainer tools": add entries for sbuild,
108 build-essential, linda; improved entries for pbuilder, devscripts
109 - Sec "Tools for porters" renamed and readapted to "Porting
110 infrastructure and automation"; move tool discussion down to the
111 appendix; improve Sec "buildd" a bit
112 - README-contrib added giving information for authors, contributors,
114 - eliminate the ByHand stuff, I'm pretty sure it's not needed now
115 with the DDP builder process, or if it is needed, it's a probably
116 that can be fixed by DDP folks
117 - stop shipping SGML source -- use 'apt-get source developers-reference'
118 after all, this is supposed to be a binary package, right?
119 - simply PS and PDF building rules
121 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Mon, 9 Dec 2002 03:04:19 -0500
123 developers-reference (3.2) unstable; urgency=low
126 - merged a bit misplaced lintian-reports section within the lintian
127 section and adjusted links
128 - added the missing description of dh-make and adjusted links
130 - ChangeLog attribution updates
131 - fix typos, closes: #171781
132 - expand the doc-base abstract and authors
133 - Ch "Packaging Practices" rewritten intro
134 - Sec "Packaging tools and common cases" renamed to "Best Practices
135 for debian/rules", and write an intro
136 - Sec "Helper scripts" in practices section rewritten, giving
137 arguments for and against debhelper, mostly for :)
138 - Sec "Package with multiple patches" renamed to "Patching source
139 versus patching at build time" and rewritten
140 - Sec "Multiple binary packages" rewritten
141 - Sec "Handling debconf translations" moved under an
142 "Internationalization" section, and some edits
143 - Sec "Internationalized Documentation" added under Sec
144 "Internationalization"
145 - Sec "Specific packaging practices" renamed to "Common packaging situations"
146 - Sec "Packages using autoconf/automake" rewritten
147 - Sec "Configuration management" moved forward in practices chapter
148 - Sec "Other specific packages" renamed to "Specific types of
149 packages", add info for SGML/XML and Lisp packages
150 - Sec "Writing useful descriptions" heavily edited
151 - Sec "Best practices for maintainer scripts" added, special credit
152 here to Charles Briscoe-Smith for work dating back to 1998; include
153 a POSIX shell snippet showing how to check if a command is the PATH,
155 - Apdx "Overview of Debian Maintainer Tools": remove debget, it's
156 rather useless and broken
157 - normalize up-casing on sections, which should only up-case proper
158 names and the first word
159 - new 'translation-status' script to check status of translations,
160 adapted from doc-check in boot-floppies, source pkg only --
161 oh my, French translation is 54 CVS revisions behind, and Japanese
163 - postinst: don't set /usr/doc symlink, aesthetics
164 - prerm: don't use 'command -v', it's not POSIX
165 - rules: produce md5sums file; break out a 'test' target
167 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sat, 7 Dec 2002 02:28:06 -0500
169 developers-reference (3.1.2) unstable; urgency=low
172 - DDP publishing update
174 - doc-base file includes French and Japanese files
175 - debsign invocation was slightly wrong, closes: #170523
176 - Sec "Handling debconf translations", updates from Martin Quinson
177 for po-debconf with minimal editorial changes, closes: #169007
179 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Wed, 27 Nov 2002 21:16:30 -0500
181 developers-reference (3.1.1) unstable; urgency=low
184 - updated IRC stuff, thanks to Ben Armstrong, closes: #161403
185 - fixed/updated/extended stuff about bugs, hoping to address the
186 issue of people abusing the changelog bug closing feature
188 - added myself as co-author
189 - fix a typo in Sec "Collaborative maintenance", closes: #161488
191 - updated security information, merging in Joey's stuff from the
192 Security Team FAQ and various updates and clarifications
194 - fix some bad URLs, closes: #168357
195 - fix a grammar typo, closes: #166098
197 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Tue, 12 Nov 2002 23:15:03 -0500
199 developers-reference (3.1) unstable; urgency=low
202 - Corrected several errors with —
203 - Applied patch from Peter Palfrader, correcting
204 the URL for the Debian Voting Information page. closes: #150427
205 - Applied patch from Matej Vela, dpkg-buildpackage does no more
206 require -sa for version -0.1. closes: #150861
207 - Applied the reformulations proposed by David Kimdon. closes: #150572
208 - Applied the patch of Matt Zimmerman. Thanks Matt! closes: #145287
209 - Added the explanation about how to replace an .orig.tar.gz.
211 - Mostly deleted the paragraph about security upload in the
212 section explaining source NMU. Just added a link to point to
213 "Handling security-related bugs". closes: #159935
214 - Added a link to the Technical Committee web page (in the "Bug
215 housekeeping" section). closes: #151365
216 - Explain uploads to testing-proposed-updates, mentions briefly
217 stable-security and testing-security. closes: #149666
218 Removed the comment about uploads to frozen.
219 - Documented the "Developer's packages overview" web portal.
221 - Added a reference to debian-l10n-english in "Writing useful
222 descriptions". closes: #158609
223 - Added a Best Packaging Practice section for "Packages using
224 autoconf/automake". closes: #158045
225 - Documented associated features to db.debian.org like SSH key
226 replication and *.debian.net DNS entry. closes: #155389
227 - Added a section about "Bug Squashing Parties".
229 - removed obsolete, needless dupload variables
230 - applied linguistic fixes from David Kimdon, closes: #150572
231 - random proofreading, mostly changing he -> they
232 - added people.d.o and non-us.d.o to the Debian servers section, and
233 mostly rewrote it to exclude real machine names and be better organized
234 - updated the mailing lists section
236 - debian/changelog: remove obsolete Emacs variables
237 - editorial review of the changes above, minor tagging changes,
240 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Tue, 10 Sep 2002 21:57:41 -0400
242 developers-reference (3.0) unstable; urgency=low
245 - welcome Manoj Srivastava as a co-maintainer
246 - welcome Raphael Hertzog as a co-maintainer
248 - new Chapter "Resource for Debian Developers", incorporating
250 Ch "Mailing Lists, Servers, and Other Machines"
251 Ch "The Debian Archive"
253 - new Chapter "Managing Packages", incorporating former chapters
255 Ch "Non-Maintainer Uploads (NMUs)"
256 Ch "Porting and Being Ported"
257 Ch "Moving, Removing, Renaming, Adopting, and Orphaning Packages"
258 Ch "Handling Bugs" (retitled "Handling package bugs")
259 Sec "Bug housekeeping" (new section, some parts stubbed out)
261 - new Chapter "Beyond Packaging" recommends ways to contribute
262 to Debian beyond issues of package maintenance; incoporates
263 Ch "Interaction with Prospective Developers", retitled to
264 Sec "Interacting with Prospective Debian Developers"
265 Sec "Submitting Bugs", renamed to "Reporting Bugs"
266 Sec "QA" moved here from old Sec "Quality Assurance effort"
267 Sec "Dealing with unreachable maintainers"
269 - Sec "The Developers Database" added under Resources
270 - new Sec "Collaborative Maintenance" concerning multiple maintainers
273 - Sec "Getting started": add link to New Maintainers' Guide
274 - Sec "Debian Mentors" renamed to "Debian Mentors and Sponsors",
275 we add some info on sponsoring; also in Sec "Sponsoring packages"
276 - Section's first word capitalized, rest are normal case
277 - purge a reference to the Packaging Manual; closes: #145039
278 - misc. cross-referencing with new or moved sections
279 - change some literal quotes to ‘, ”, etc.
280 - tagging improvements: replace <tt> with <file> for files and
281 directories; since <tt><var> and <example><var> doesn't look right,
282 work-around with <...>
283 - entity'ize master.debian.org, us-upload-dir, non-us-upload-dir
284 - update copyright date
285 - some simplifications on the TeX suffix rule
286 - spell check and grammar corrections
290 - changed -e by -m in the dpkg-buildpackage command line example;
292 - clarify wording between "porter upload", "binary-only NMU", "simple
293 recompile"; closes: #102626
294 - extended "removing a package"; closes: #135560
295 - Ch "Best Packaging Practices": new chapter, including new
296 Sec "Writing useful descriptions" as a first entry in that
297 chapter; closes: #53109, #129848
298 - indicate that the list of subsections is defined in the policy;
300 - removed some cruft in `Announcing package uploads'
301 - document the testing scripts; closes: #129445
302 - explain how to reassign/close bugs of removed packages;
304 - updates the note about software subject to US patents;
306 - new Section "Contacting other maintainers" under "Beyond packaging"
307 Document the package@packages.debian.org alias; closes: #114553
308 - new Section "Package's information" under Resources
309 Document http://packages.debian.org/<package>,
310 http://bugs.debian.org/<package> and the madison utility
311 - Sec "Reporting bugs": added http://bugs.debian.org/from:email@isp.com
312 - Sec "Handling bugs": added http://bugs.debian.org/login@debian.org
313 - Sec "The Incoming system" in "Resources", describe how it works and
314 also speak of the DELAYED directory; closes: #135562, #136774
316 - Sec "Developer Database": added a sentence about finger
318 - update the total number of packages and the example directory tree
320 - updated the list of available architectures.
321 - commented out the "Subsections" section since it will RSN have nothing
322 to with the Debian archive. It's just a generic information field
323 of the package and nothing more.
324 - added more incentive to use experimental since it doesn't cause
325 any pain to the ftpmasters.
326 - Sec "When to do a source NMU": updated the NMU "protocol" and suggest
327 the use of the delayed queue.
328 - new Section "Acknowledging the NMUs" to explain the need to integrate
329 the changes introduced by NMUs. Insists on the fact that one shouldn't
331 - stubbed in new Section "Collaborative maintenance"
332 - stubbed in new Section "The Package Tracking System"
333 - Sec "The Package Tracking System": filled with content from
334 Francesco Paolo Lovergine, heavily updated by myself
335 - new Section "Managing sponsored packages" contributed by
336 Francesco Paolo Lovergine, slightly updated by myself
337 - new Sec "Bug housekeeping"; closes: #39519
339 - new Sec "Documentation"
340 - added Sec "IRC channels" in the Resources chapter
341 - added Sec "pbuilder" in the appendix. Mention it in the section
342 "Being kind to porter" too
343 - extended Sec "devscripts" with info about "bts" and "uscan"
344 - completed Sec "Helper scripts"
345 - completed Sec "Package with multiple patches",
346 "Multiple binary packages", "Libraries", "Other specific packages",
347 "The wise use of debconf" -- all those are quite simplistic, they
349 - integrated Sec "Handling debconf translations" contributed by
350 Denis Barbier -- thanks, Denis!
353 - update French translation
355 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 14 Jun 2002 01:18:19 -0400
357 developers-reference (2.11) unstable; urgency=low
360 - some grammar corrections
361 - update French translation
363 - changes in upload situation, not possible to remove from Incoming
364 anymore; closes: #135559
365 - also talk about dput a tiny bit
367 - Ch "Overview of Debian Maintainer Tools":
369 - Charles Briscoe-Smith deprecates yada (I think new maintainers of
370 that would be welcome)
371 - debconf-doc mentioned for debconf
372 - debhelper: don't talk about debmake; mention how to get info on the dh-* pkgs
373 - dput: new section, closes: #129378
374 - debootstrap: new section, closes: #129377
375 - dpkg-dev-el: new section
376 - other minor wording changes
377 - Sec "Mailing Lists": where to find private archives, closes: #96780
378 - Ch "Package uploads":
379 - new Sec "Adding an entry to debian/changelog"
380 - rename Sec "Announcing new packages" to "New packages"
381 - crypto is in main, non-US is for patent restrictions, so:
382 - excise some text from "Registering as a Debian developer"
383 - changes in Sec "Uploading to ftp-master"
384 - changes in Sec "Uploading to non-US"
385 * old bugs closed out, closes: #110573
387 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 7 Apr 2002 23:34:08 -0700
389 developers-reference (2.10.0) unstable; urgency=low
391 * from Martin Michlmayr
392 - update the "Applying to Become a New Maintainer" section, with
393 review by Raphael Hertzog, closes: #133965
394 - bugs closed in NMUs should uses 'closes' changelog entries,
396 - developers are not required to subscribe to debian-private
398 - some suggestions on places to use the proper term, Debian GNU/Linux,
400 - fix some typos, closes: #133956
402 - frozen doesn't exist anymore, just testing; note, however, that
403 there is a way to upload to 'woody-proposed-updates' -- if I can
404 find some description of that, I'll document it; closes: #133948
407 - isolate a few more language-independent bits
409 - change /usr/doc to /usr/share/doc, and typo in debian/copyright,
412 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 24 Feb 2002 14:46:46 -0500
414 developers-reference (2.9.0) unstable; urgency=low
417 - created a new subsection about uploading to stable, and elaborated
419 - removed a stray sentence about stable from the paragraph about
420 security uploads (which apply to all distributions equally)
421 - replaced the nonexistent term "Security Manager" with "security officer"
422 - uploading to stable and unstable is deprecated; updated the section
423 about the experimental distribution; other fixes in the section
424 talking about uploading to distributions
425 - better organize some subsections in the section about package uploads
426 - replaced some bogus <ftppath>s with <tt>s
427 - noted how there is an upload queue on pandora, too
429 - French translation updated
431 - normalize '--' as — for prettier output
432 - integrate changes from James Troup, part of #102626
433 - typo fix thanks to Mark Hodge
435 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 21 Oct 2001 01:03:01 -0400
437 developers-reference (2.8.8) unstable; urgency=low
440 - a few more strong words about sponsoring
441 - started a new chapter about the relationship between old and new
444 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 20 Jul 2001 17:53:47 -0400
446 developers-reference (2.8.7) unstable; urgency=low
449 * fix a typo in a link
450 * dpkg-buildpackage -m<addr> flag was changed for -e<addr> when NMU'ing;
451 update documentation accordingly
453 * Matt Zimmerman fixes up some wording in the section talking about
454 forwarding bugs upstream
456 * provide proper l10n for SGML date entities; now we have &date-<LANG>
457 entities which should be used
458 * debian/rules: fixes for new debiandoc-sgml
459 * debian/control: depend on debiandoc-sgml 1.1.48 or better
461 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Thu, 21 Jun 2001 14:43:42 -0400
463 developers-reference (2.8.6) unstable; urgency=low
465 * fix a typo, thanks to Antoine Hulin
466 * French version: completely up-to-date now
467 * Makefile: add a 'validate' target
468 * prepare and ship "upstream" ChangeLog; move the debian changelog to
470 * all versions: change the email address to use when orphaning
473 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 13 Apr 2001 03:32:08 -0400
475 developers-reference (2.8.5) unstable; urgency=low
477 * expunge references to the Debian Packaging Manual, which is now in the
479 * Japanese version: also comment out some references packaging manual;
480 this translation needs updating
481 * deny request to shut down non-maintainer bug maintenance bug closure
482 practices (closes: Bug#88623)
483 * add some advice about U.S. citizens uploading to non-US
485 * debian/control: Build-Depends should have been Build-Depends-Indep
486 * French version: First complete translation of the Debian developer's
487 reference guide. Much work done by Antoine Hulin. Reviewed by Nicolas
489 * Portuguese version: work is started by Carlos Laviola, nothing
490 included yet, however
492 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 8 Apr 2001 01:25:51 -0400
494 developers-reference (2.8.4) unstable; urgency=low
496 * debian/control: remove reference to obsolete packaging-manual package
498 * debian/control: fill in the description a bit more
499 * doc-base: index.html corrected to be index.en.html
501 * Makefile: clean is cleaner
503 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 25 Feb 2001 12:47:06 -0500
505 developers-reference (2.8.3) unstable; urgency=low
507 * build and provide French and Japanese versions
508 * devolve build logic from debian/rules to top-level Makefile
509 * developers-reference.jp.sgml: minor changes so it will build (is out
511 * debian/rules: stop making useless /usr/share/developers-reference dir
513 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Mon, 22 Jan 2001 02:02:02 -0500
515 developers-reference (2.8.2) unstable; urgency=low
518 - fix typographic errors reported by David Martinez (closes: Bug#80740)
519 - common.ent: upped the numbers a little bit, updated lintian reports URL
520 - updated regarding va->klecker move, and www->people move, changed
521 most mentions of dinstall to a generic term "archive maintenance
522 software", removed full path to it because it is in PATH now,
523 mentioned "dak" and "katie" (somewhat vaguely), changed week to
524 month regarding FTP archive waiting time since that\'s more often
525 the case, and changed weeks to hours regarding Maintainers file
526 updates since that\'s also more often the case now, updated some
527 URLs to entities, s/debian-doc/doc-debian/
528 - replaced evil latin1-only quotation marks, replaced mentions of
529 important severity (in RCB context) with serious severity, some
531 - common.ent (1.10): fixed email-debian-user alias; updated
532 sample-dist-dirtree (with more to come)
533 - described testing; described package pools (this particular part
534 required quite a bit of changes, and it might be a bit rough, but
535 it's a start); described the frozen test cycles et al; some other
537 - another update WRT sid/unstable/testing, from Colin Watson
539 * debian/control: add Recommends for debian-policy, packaging-manual
540 * update copyright notice for 2001
541 * fix for WNPP bug filing severities from David Schleef
542 * clarify the status of the Developers's reference as "normative"
543 * add a reference to debconf (closes: Bug#82413)
545 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 21 Jan 2001 18:10:21 -0500
547 developers-reference (2.8.1) unstable; urgency=low
549 * update WNPP instructions, based on patch from Marcelo E. Magallon
551 * spelling corrections, awkward grammar suggestions from Andreas Krueger
553 * debian/rules: remove some obsolete source-depends stuff
555 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sat, 4 Nov 2000 13:22:21 -0500
557 developers-reference (2.8.0) unstable; urgency=low
559 * Almost all changes for this release are from Josip Rodin
560 <joy@debian.org>. Thanks, Josip!
562 * debian/control, postinst, prerm, rules: Policy 3.2.1 (closes:
563 Bug#68929, Bug#70384)
564 * fixed bug closing example (closes: Bug#71198)
565 * update the perl regexp from current /usr/lib/dpkg/parsechangelog/debian
566 * updated keyring/keyserver information (closes: Bug#67783)
567 * updated new-maintainer stuff (closes: Bug#67841)
568 * updated for master -> ftp-master move (closes: Bug#68369)
569 * noted www.d.o is the right host for web pages, but all other machines
570 could be used if necessary
571 * reorder mentions of scp to come before FTP, as it is more secure;
572 mention the rsync dupload method
573 * reorder mentions of pandora <-> non-us, canonical name non-us is
575 * other small corrections
576 * fixed orphaning/adopting instructions with regard to the new WNPP
577 * common.ent: fix urls for cvs.d.o, wnpp, Debian machines page,
578 lists-archives, www.d.o BTS
579 * common.ent: changed link for machines from devel/maintainer_contacts
581 * Makefile: remove unnecessary subshell
583 * Adam's change: update debian/copyright for new Policy, and put my name
584 in there a bit with updated years; update doc-base file for FHS
586 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 15 Oct 2000 03:25:21 -0400
588 developers-reference (2.7.2) frozen unstable; urgency=medium
590 * I believe this should go into frozen because (a) it's only
591 documentation, so it can't introduce RC bugs, and (b) it fixes an
592 error which prevented it from building properly; however, whatever
593 ftpmaster feels is best is fine
595 * include common.ent as well as version.ent
596 (closes: Bug#52582, Bug#48926)
597 * debian/rules: fix build error caused by newer debiandoc-sgml; remove
598 constitution.en.html, since that is now located in the doc-debian
599 package (closes: Bug#54778, Bug#42014); don't compress .pdf file
601 * All changes below from Raphael Hertzog <hertzog@debian.org>
603 * Sec. "Uploading to master" and "Uploading to pandora":
604 explained dinstall -n (closes: Bug#45079)
605 * Sec. "Picking a distribution": added reference to the debian-release
606 team (closes: Bug#52906)
607 * Sec. "Announcing package uploads": rewrote it to take care of the fact
608 that dinstall is doing it automatically (closes: Bug#43877)
609 * Sec. "Mailing lists": added a paragraph about debian-email
611 * Changed the "Maintaining Your Debian Information" into "Debian
612 Developer's Duties" (closes: Bug#28908)
613 - added a section about the LDAP database
614 - added a section about the "on vacation" message
615 - added a section about the coordination with upstream developers
617 - added a section about managing Release Critical bugs
618 - added a section about Quality Assurance effort
620 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 16 Apr 2000 23:24:33 -0400
622 developers-reference (2.7.1) unstable; urgency=low
624 * Sec. "Registering as a Debian developer": we are transitioning away
625 from non-free PGP -- remove allusions to non-free software such as
626 PGPv2 or v5 insofar as possible; recommend use of DSS keys rather than
628 * Sec. "Maintaining Your Public Key": remove PGP-centric stuff
629 * Sec. "When bugs are closed by new uploads": describe how to close bugs
630 via a magic changelog entry (closes: Bug#43690)
631 * Sec. "Generating the changes file": refer to Sec. "When bugs are
632 closed by new uploads" for closing bugs via a changelog entry
633 * developers-reference.sgml: re-enable RCS variables in CVS sources
634 * debian/control,rules: dynamically generate the TOC in the package
635 description from developers-reference.sgml
637 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 12 Sep 1999 18:15:59 -0400
639 developers-reference (2.7.0) unstable; urgency=low
641 * developers-reference.sgml: separated out language-independant elements
642 into common.ent (not content changes); misc minor grammar changes
644 * doc-base: change section for *constitution* to Debian (not 'debian')
646 * Sec. "Stable, unstable, and sometimes frozen": mention how old stable
647 releases are available at archive.debian.org
648 * Sec. "Uploading to pandora (non-us)" added, remove stale
649 information about the old anonymous ftp area (closes Bug#39541);
650 Sec. "Other Upload Queues" added about that upload queues, added
651 samosa and master.debian.org.jp (closes Bug#37804)
652 * Sec. "Yada": mention that yada might not be as robust as other package
653 producing systems, at request of the author; Sec. "equivs" added
654 * Sec. "Moving packages": at the request of Guy Maor, clarify that this
655 procedure is for moving packages in sections (i.e., free, contrib)
657 * Sec. "Registering as a Debian developer": talk about RSA keys rather
658 than PGP keys, since I think GPG can create/handle them now; mention
659 that the official pkg maintainer address much match an ID on your key;
660 * Sec. "Maintaining Your Public Key": beef up the warnings a bit; point
662 * Sec. "Mailing Lists, Servers, and Other Machines": clean up and
663 clarify section; mention that all developers are expected to be
664 subscribed to debian-private and debian-devel-announce
665 * Sec. "Other Debian Machines": remove list of machines; point to
666 http://www.debian.org/devel/machines instead
667 * Sec. "Release code names": potato is 2.2
668 * Sec. "Guidelines for Porter Uploads": talk about recompile only
669 uploads and version numbers for this (i.e., foo_2.4-1.0.1), from a
670 suggestion from James Troup
671 * Sec. "buildd": mention andrea, and buildd.debian.org
672 * Sec. "Removing packages": correct apt-cache usage
673 * debain/rules: update standards to 3.0.1 -- since I'm not moving
674 /usr/doc to /usr/share/doc yet, no changes were required except in the
677 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Mon, 16 Aug 1999 23:29:45 -0400
679 developers-reference (2.6.8) unstable; urgency=low
681 * when applying as a new user, the login name can be *eight* characters,
682 not seven (thanks to Rafael Caetano dos Santos)
684 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 21 May 1999 21:50:04 -0400
686 developers-reference (2.6.7) unstable; urgency=low
688 * SGML'ish: normalize SGML elements, refill paragraphs (closes Bug#37987)
689 * doc-base: change section to Debian -- hmm, this looks like a doc-base
690 bug, really, but hey, who am I to refile bugs to another one of my own
691 packages? (closes Bug#37392)
692 * Ch. "Overview of Debian Maintainer Tools": new section for yada (um,
693 someone who uses this should check my description), correct build ->
694 debuild in the devscripts section (closes Bug#38053)
696 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 21 May 1999 01:41:45 -0400
698 developers-reference (2.6.6) unstable; urgency=low
700 * Sec. "The master server": note that problems on Debian ftp can be sent
701 to ftpmaster@debian.org also
702 * Secs. "Uploads via chiark" and "Uploads via erlangen": remove
703 'cron-driven' (thanks Roman Hodek)
704 * Sec. "Being Kind to Porters": typos corrected, note that binary-arch
705 and binary-indep targets should work independantly (thanks Roman
707 * Sec. "buildd": remove erroneous reference to debbuild, reorganize the
708 section and correct typos (thank again Roman -- boy, this is the all
710 * debian/rules: re-enable letter-sized PDFs
712 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 9 May 1999 01:17:29 -0400
714 developers-reference (2.6.5) unstable; urgency=low
716 * Sec. "Architectures": correction on supported architecture in Linux
718 * Sec. "Experimental": other reasons to use or not use the experiment
719 archive "section", from comments by Guy Maor
720 * Sec. "Being Kind to Porters": replace x86 with i386 (closes Bug#36485)
721 * debian/rules: date printing protected from local l10n (closes Bug#36891)
722 * Ch. "Mailing Lists, Servers, and Other Machines": renamed chapter; add
724 * Sec. "Debian Servers": new, for talking about the standard servers,
725 with intro; demoted server sections under that
726 * Sec. "The FTP servers": was empty, removed
727 * Sec. "The master server": fill in more info and cross-refs on how to
729 * Sec. "The CVS server": add some more detail which should be included
730 when requesting cvs areas; mention the cvsweb URL
731 * Sec. "Other Debian Machines": new section, list the machines for which
732 a normal developer may have access.
734 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Tue, 4 May 1999 03:32:21 -0400
736 developers-reference (2.6.4) unstable; urgency=low
738 * debian/rules: hack 'byhand' file entries to include debian version
739 number in it, so subsequent uploads of the package into Incoming don't
740 step all over each other
742 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 9 Apr 1999 20:04:04 -0400
744 developers-reference (2.6.3) unstable; urgency=low
746 * correction from James Troup -- <keyring-maint> is indeed the correct
747 address for PGP key updates
749 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 4 Apr 1999 13:28:58 -0400
751 developers-reference (2.6.2) unstable; urgency=low
753 * Sec. "fakeroot": libtricks is not replacing anything after all
754 * developers-reference.sgml: use public declaration
755 * BTW, if any maintainers of translated versions of this document would
756 like to talk to me about folding your version into the
757 developers-reference CVS area, please get in touch with me
759 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 4 Apr 1999 04:42:29 -0400
761 developers-reference (2.6.1) unstable; urgency=low
763 * include Debian constitution (closes Bug#30694)
764 * Sec. "fakeroot": libtricks is replacing fakeroot, not libtool
765 * Sec. "Maintaining Your Public Key" -- give email addresses as
766 {pgp,gpg}-update@debian.org, at James Troup's request (note to Jameas,
767 if you see this: /usr/doc/debian-keyring/README.gz talks about
768 <keyring-maint> instead)
769 * Ch. "Overview of Debian Maintainer Tools" -- add Sec. "debget"
770 * developers-reference.sgml: minor typo correction from Tril
772 * doc-base stuff: add abstract to developers-reference, new file for
774 * debian/rules: minor cleanup and consistency; build PDF, not PS file;
775 ship PDF file;.text file now has .txt extension
776 * debian/control: set priority to optional, matching archive
778 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sat, 3 Apr 1999 17:17:06 -0500
780 developers-reference (2.6.0) frozen unstable; urgency=low
782 * would be nice to sneak this into slink; it's just documentation!
783 * Ch. "Porting and Being Ported": porter information broken out into it's
784 own chapter, Sec. "Guidelines for Porter Uploads" and "When to do a
785 source NMU if you are a porter" moved to this chapter; porter tool
786 descriptions such as 'quinn-diff' moved to this section. Sec. "Being
787 Kind to Porters" added, with tips for how to avoid making problems for
789 * Ch. "Non-Maintainer Uploads (NMUs)": update for the new chapter, and
790 tighten up the language a bit
791 * Sec. "Monitoring bugs": add a little cron job to get an 'index maint'
792 of outstanding bugs (closes Bug#31259), loosen language a tiny bit
793 w.r.t. non-maintainers or submitters closing bugs (closes Bug#30394)
794 * Sec. "Scope of This Document": point out that this file is not
796 * Ch. "Handling Bugs": renamed from "Handling Bug Reports", incorporate
797 some suggestions from James Troup, namely, don't mail from your root
798 account, don't close bugs via control@bugs.debian.org; break out new
799 sections, "Submitting Bugs" and "Responding to Bugs"
800 * Ch. "Overview of Debian Maintainer Tools": remove attribution for
801 package maintainers, since I can't keep up; add entries for fakeroot
803 * Ch. "Maintaining Your Debian Information": new chapter, quite small
804 right now; it mentions keyring-maint@debian.org for key modification,
805 warns against putting private keys on multi-user machines, and talks
806 about how to depart Debian gracefully
807 * typo correction from Christian Hudon (closes Bug#32052)
808 * menu file removed, obsoleted by doc-base file
809 * parameterize some often-changing values with SGML entities, update
810 number of available packages
811 * use new way of notating multiple copyrights
812 * change <tt> elements to <file> where appropriate
814 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Thu, 11 Feb 1999 02:53:55 -0500
816 developers-reference (2.5.0.5) unstable; urgency=low
818 * add version.ent to docdir, needed to reconstruct from SGML
821 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Tue, 29 Dec 1998 02:42:50 -0500
823 developers-reference (2.5.0.4) unstable; urgency=low
825 * not officially released
826 * more spelling corrections
827 * s/ppc/powerpc/ (thanks, James Troup)
829 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 18 Dec 1998 00:07:40 -0500
831 developers-reference (2.5.0.3) unstable; urgency=low
833 * not officially released
834 * Sec. "Removing a package from Incoming": tiny section added
835 * some PGP-centricity removed
836 * Sec. "Adopting a package": point out that hijacking packages is not ok
837 * Ch. "Non-Maintainer Uploads (NMUs) and Porters": change 'NMU' to
838 'source NMU', 'port' to 'binary NMU', shorten the window for porters a
839 tad; fix spelling; stress that non-maintainer patches must be
840 non-disruptive and that aesthetic issues are not suitable for fixing
841 by non-maintainers; other fixes as suggested by interested parties
843 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Wed, 25 Nov 1998 00:01:27 -0500
845 developers-reference (2.5.0.2) frozen unstable; urgency=low
847 * not officially released
848 * maintainer name change (but it's still me)
849 * Ch. "Non-Maintainer Uploads (NMUs) and Porters": new chapter
850 discussing NMUs and porters; Section "Interim Releases" integrated out
851 of existance. New TOC for this section is:
852 * 6 Non-Maintainer Uploads (NMUs) and Porters
853 + 6.1 Who can do a port or an NMU
854 + 6.2 When to do a port or an NMU
855 o 6.2.1 When to do an NMU if you are a porter
856 + 6.3 How to do an NMU
857 o 6.3.1 NMU version numbering
858 o 6.3.2 NMUs must create a changelog entry
859 o 6.3.3 NMUs must send patches, if any, to the BTS
860 o 6.3.4 Building the NMU
861 + 6.4 Guidelines for Porters
863 * Sec. "Maintainer changes": renamed to "Adopting a package" and moved
864 to Chapter "Moving, Removing, Renaming, Adopting, and Orphaning
866 * Sec. "Reporting lots of bugs at once": more forcefully deprecate this
868 * Sec. "Adopting a package": mention that the BTS maintainer update can
869 take a couple of weeks
870 * Sec. "Overview of Debian Maintainer Tools": give credit where credit
871 is due and attribute current maintainers; add `apt'; add `quinn-diff';
872 add mention of as yet unreleased 'buildd' package, since I'm so
873 excited about it and can't wait
874 * Sec. "Removing packages": talk about how apt-cache can be used to look
875 at reverse depends, a good step to take prior to removing a package
877 * show *full* TOC, including sect2
878 * of course the obligatory typo, grammar, and spelling corrections
880 * Makefile: small changes to accomodate DDP autobuild
881 * debian/dirs: obsolete, removed
882 * debian/rules: use changelog date for SGML timestamping, not current date
884 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 20 Nov 1998 12:27:53 -0500
886 developers-reference (2.5.0) frozen unstable; urgency=low
888 * move to 3-level version number:
889 top-level version number probably won't change for a while, it is the
890 "major", the second-level number means significant content changes,
891 and the third-level change means corrections and minor improvements.
892 Since this version has significant content changes, we are now 2.5.0.
893 Since I'm going to put porter instructions in the next major rev, that
896 * use new <package> tag where appropriate (Ardo, you rock)
897 * replace 'm86k' with 'm68k'
898 * rename 'Whirlwind Tour of ...' section to 'Overview of ...' (suggested
900 * typos and "red-pen" corrections, fix cosmetic problems in PostScript
902 * remove the one case I use an URL fragment identifier, since
903 debiandoc-sgml doesn't like it (bug filed against debiandoc-sgml)
904 * debian/rules: cosmetic cleanups, loosen check for root
905 * debian/rules: build PostScript version during build, since it's nice
906 to have all my debiandoc2* scripts together
907 * debian/control: policy compliant to 2.5.0
909 * advise against uploading when a package has lintian problems of
911 * "Mailing Lists and Servers":
912 - "The master server": mention how master is the home of the BTS;
913 mention how users need to take care with their accounts on master
914 - "The WWW servers": fill in www.debian.org, first pass, and discuss
915 how to put up your own web pages on va or master
916 - "The CVS server": new section added
917 - "Mirrors of Debian servers": new section added; point to info about
919 * "Applying to Become a Maintainer": do not advise resending initial
920 application; instead, simply mail a followup asking new maintainers
921 whether they go the initial application (closes Bug #28739); mention
922 that calls usually come in the evening; mention that if you use PGP
923 v5, you need to generate an RSA key (right?); clarify our intentions
925 * "Release code names": Debian 2.2 is 'potato'
926 * "Distribution directories": give concrete examples, hopefully making
927 it clearer where to look in Debian archives for specific stuff;
928 mention that old distributions are moved to archive servers (is there
929 a canonical location?)
930 * "The override file": new section, added under "Notification that a new
931 package has been installed"; fill it out quite a bit
932 * "Uploading to *": reiterate thrice not to upload export
933 controlled-software to master, or the European queues on erlangen and
935 * "Picking a distribution": section broken out from "Generating the
937 * "Uploading to frozen": new section, almost straight from Brian White
938 (hope you don't mind!) -- isn't that topical?
939 * "Interim releases": if you NMU a new upstream version (0.1), run
940 'dpkg-buildpackage -sa'
942 -- Adam P. Harris <aph@debian.org> Thu, 12 Nov 1998 00:03:43 -0500
944 developers-reference (2.4.1.5) unstable; urgency=low
946 * Fix instructions for new maintainers, incorporating the actual text
947 sent to prospective new maintainers. Improve this text a bit for
948 readability, coverage, and organization. Significant changes were
949 patched back to the new-maintainers group, if they care to use
950 them. (closes Bug#26948)
951 * Add an introductory "Scope" chapter which helps delineate what should
952 and should not be included in this Reference.
953 * Add a new chapter, "Whirlwind Tour of Debian Maintainer Tools". Let
954 me know what useful tools I forgot -- remember, Debian-specific
955 maintainer tools only!
956 * Add discussion of the "experimental" distribution, culled from an email
957 from Guy Maor on debian-devel.
958 * Incorporated suggestions from Branden Robinson (closes Bug#27211).
959 * Point to doc-debian's mailing list instructions where relevant.
960 * Made references to online documentation into URLs where possible.
961 * Little corrections here and there.
962 * add a Makefile for use in the DDP manual hierarchy
963 * debian/rules: comment out my 'source-depends' hack; it's just slowing
966 -- Adam P. Harris <aph@debian.org> Thu, 1 Oct 1998 03:42:43 -0400
968 developers-reference (2.4.1.4) unstable; urgency=low
970 * fill in Section "The master server" a bit; other servers to follow
971 * in Section "Distribution directories", mention that distributions
972 are always in 'dists' subdir of the Debian archive; talk about
974 * in Section "Release code names", talk about 'sid' a bit
975 * in Section "Interim releases", talk about how non-maintainers should
976 use the BTS, and bug severity "fixed" (closes Bug#17524)
977 * in Section "Generating the changes file", talk about how to set the
978 distribution in the debian/changelog file (i.e., "frozen unstable")
979 * add a new Section "Checking the package prior to upload" to Section
980 "Uploading a package", mentioning lintian and other tests one should
981 do prior to uploading
982 * add new Section "Notification that a new package has been installed"
983 in Section "Uploading a package", talking about dinstall and the
985 * add new Sections "Moving packages", "Removing packages", "Replacing or
986 renaming packages", and "Orphaning a package" (closes Bug#26650)
987 * add new Section "Bugs in your packages", talking about maintainer
988 duties with respect to bugs
989 * add new Section "Lintian reports" under "Handling bugs reports",
990 talking about how maintainers should check their packages with lintian
991 every now and then, alternatively pointing them to the lintian web
993 * clarify, a bit, the use of "section" and "subsection", bringing it
994 into line with the usage in the Policy Manual and Packaging Manual
995 * grammar and markup changes throughout
996 * debian/rules: added a crude source-depends rule, which renders more
997 explicit what is used to build this package
999 -- Adam P. Harris <aph@debian.org> Mon, 21 Sep 1998 00:51:46 -0400
1001 developers-reference (2.4.1.3) unstable; urgency=low
1004 * version number and date are automatically populated now
1005 * changed doc-base section to "debian"
1006 * debian/rules: better abstraction and organization
1007 * reformat SGML like I happen to like it
1008 * utilize the new URL tag
1009 * build PostScript on letter size, I hear thats better for A4 and US
1012 -- Adam P. Harris <aph@debian.org> Thu, 16 Jul 1998 00:52:35 -0400
1014 developers-reference (2.4.1.2) frozen unstable; urgency=low
1016 * non-maintainer release
1017 * rebuilt since HTML versions of Chapters 1 and 2 were truncated
1018 (important bug, no number yet, bugs.debian.org isn't working;
1019 regardless, this should go in hamm because a broken developers
1020 reference won't win us many friends in hamm, and after all, it's just
1021 text, it can't hurt you.)
1022 * no content changes, except that the version number in the SGML file
1023 reflect this packages version number
1024 * debian/rule: clean is cleaner now
1026 -- Adam P. Harris <aph@debian.org> Tue, 16 Jun 1998 01:35:39 -0400
1028 developers-reference (2.4.1.1) frozen unstable; urgency=low
1032 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Thu, 14 May 1998 21:56:36 +0200
1034 developers-reference (2.4.1.0) frozen unstable; urgency=low
1036 * New version numbering scheme:
1038 - The version numbers are independent of dpkg now, but all policy
1039 manuals (the Debian Policy Manual, the Debian Packaging Manual, and
1040 the Debian Developer's Reference) share the same version numbering
1043 - The first three digits of the version number specify the
1044 `Standards-Version.' This number is incremented with each policy
1045 change. The fourth digit represents the `patch-level,' which may
1046 differ between the manuals.
1048 If only the patch-level digit is incremented, no changes in policy
1049 have been made, except bug fixes and clarifications. Packages only
1050 have to specify the first three digits of the version number in the
1051 `Standards-Version' field of their source packages.
1053 * Uploaded to frozen and unstable. This is a documentation-only
1054 package and the changes to the manual are relevant for hamm.
1056 * No changes to the Developer's Reference
1058 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Mon, 13 Apr 1998 17:54:43 +0200
1060 developers-reference (0.5) unstable; urgency=low
1062 * Changes to the Developer's Reference:
1064 - Changed section 1.2 Registering as a Debian developer:
1065 + signatures from formal certification service are _NOT_ accepted
1067 + images of ID documents have to be PGP or RSA signed
1068 (as requested by James Troup)
1070 - Use current date instead of <date> in manual
1072 * Updated FSF's address (reported by Lintian)
1074 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Sat, 7 Mar 1998 13:52:15 +0100
1076 developers-reference (0.4) unstable; urgency=low
1078 * Changes to the Developer's Reference:
1080 - Renamed chapter 4 into `Package uploads'
1082 - New section 4.2.5 Uploading to the non-us server
1084 - Changed section 4.4 Interim releases:
1085 + non-maintainer releases should not close bugs
1086 + normal maintainer must at least read the patch provided with
1087 the non-maintainer release
1089 - New chapter 5 Handling bug reports:
1090 + when reporting more then 10 bugs on the same topic, a message
1091 has to be sent to debian-devel and the `maintonly' address
1094 - Lots of typos fixed
1096 * Compressed SGML source code
1098 * Added support for doc-base to register the Developer's Reference
1099 to the online documentation systems dwww and dhelp
1101 * Upgraded to standards version 2.4.0.0 (no changes)
1103 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Fri, 30 Jan 1998 21:58:34 +0100
1105 developers-reference (0.3) unstable; urgency=low
1107 * Put lost sections from Policy Manual 2.1.3.3 back in:
1108 - Generating the changes file (for uploads)
1109 - Announcing package uploads
1110 * New section about Debian Mentors
1111 * debian/rules: Don't use debstd anymore
1112 * debian/rules: Compress changelog file (fixes:#15441)
1113 * Fixed link to WNPP list (fixes:#16201)
1114 * Added menu entry (fixes:#15708)
1116 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Wed, 24 Dec 1997 13:54:33 +0100
1118 developers-reference (0.2) unstable; urgency=low
1120 * New chapter about `The Debian Archive' describing the structure
1121 of our FTP server and the development process
1122 * Added note that new maintainers have to read the Social Contract
1123 and have to know where to find the Policy and Packaging Manuals
1124 * PGP key ring is not distributed via dpkg but in doc/ of the FTP
1126 * Added note that cross posting between Debian lists is depreciated
1127 * New list of advantages why new packages should be discussed on
1128 debian-devel before they are uploaded
1129 * Added section about how packages are uploaded
1130 * Added note that the Security Managers may do interim releases without
1131 contacting the maintainer
1132 * Removed chapter about bug tracking system (will be included in
1133 a new manual released soon)
1134 * Some minor changes
1135 * Include SGML source in package
1136 * Don't use `2-up' style for PostScript version
1137 * Upgraded to Standards 2.3.0.1
1139 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Sun, 2 Nov 1997 20:53:26 +0100
1141 developers-reference (0.1) unstable; urgency=low
1145 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Tue, 8 Jul 1997 00:19:49 +0200