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 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 18 Apr 2003 09:21:52 -0400
9 developers-reference (3.3.1) unstable; urgency=low
12 - package description said it contained French and Japanese, fixed,
14 - Sec "Experimental": sources.list entries
15 - Sec "Basic rules for [mailing list] use": cosmetic, link to this sec
16 - Sec "Handling bugs": retitle and expand section
18 - more improvements to package synopsis and description
19 - the synopsis formula changed to either
20 <package-name> is a <synopsis>
22 <package-name> is <synopsis>
24 <package-name> are <synopsis>
26 - the synopsis itself should not start with an article
27 - Sec "Best practices for debian/control": expand intro
28 - fix doc-check URL; closes: #187144
29 - Sec "Multiple binary packages": fix awkward wording about vim source
30 package; closes: #187143
32 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 4 Apr 2003 14:26:52 -0500
34 developers-reference (3.3) unstable; urgency=low
37 - French translation updated to version 3.2.2 (more or less)
38 - proofread by Philippe Batailler
40 - added "ddtp" keyword in the PTS documentation
42 - split out the doc-files per language, closes: #177448
43 - shuffled stuff around in the packages chapter
44 - added a section describing how to handle large amounts of
45 architecture-independent data bundled with programs
46 - added best practices on debian/changelog files, based on a patch
47 kindly provided by Daniel Kobras, closes: #166388
48 - described debdiff and dpkg-depcheck, and linked to them from the
49 right places in the document, closes: #172897
50 - describe the current practice in writing synopsis lines,
54 - convert to debhelper (compat mode 4); maintainer scripts no longer
56 - split -ja and -fr versions out into separate packages
57 - top-level makefile deletes targets on error; clean is cleaner
58 - replace the manual debian/control processing to show the document's
59 table of contents (TOC) with a new script 'debian/tocsubstvars';
60 note that the TOC displayed in the developers-reference-{fr,ja}
61 package descriptions are in English until UTF8 control files are
62 allowed; proper escaping of single quotes here requires newest
64 - editorial changes on material added in this version
65 - reorder "Best Packaging Practices" a bit
66 - rework "Best practices for debian/control" based on contributions
67 from Colin Walters, Branden Robinson, Sebastian Rittau and others;
68 closes: #139957, #108416
69 - primary author is developers-reference@packages.debian.org; remove
70 emails from other authors to prevent spam and confusion
72 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Mon, 24 Feb 2003 13:29:07 -0500
74 developers-reference (3.2.2) unstable; urgency=low
77 - slightly rewrote and updated links in the mirrors section
79 - Policy compliance checked and updated to 3.5.8, no changes needed
80 - TODO: remove some tasks which are done
81 - ship README-contrib and TODO in the doc dir
82 - Sec "Upstream home page": some revisions based on discussion on
84 - Sec "Documentation" added under Sec "Common packaging situations"
85 for best practices for documentation
86 - Add tools entries for autotools-dev, dpkg-repack, alien, debsums;
87 new Sec "Documentation and information", add entries there for
88 debview, debiandoc-sgml, debian-keyring; we believe this manual now
89 covers all of the established, general Debian maintainer tool
93 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Thu, 12 Dec 2002 13:45:23 -0500
95 developers-reference (3.2.1) unstable; urgency=low
98 - Sec "Best practices for debian/control" added, Sec "Writing useful
99 descriptions" moved under there
100 - Sec "Upstream home page" added in debian/control section
101 - Sec "Miscellaneous advice" empty, removed
102 - Sec "Overview of maintainer tools": tools now categorized into
103 subgroups; do cross-linking from this section into other parts of
104 the document where these tools are discussed
105 - Sec "Overview of maintainer tools": add entries for sbuild,
106 build-essential, linda; improved entries for pbuilder, devscripts
107 - Sec "Tools for porters" renamed and readapted to "Porting
108 infrastructure and automation"; move tool discussion down to the
109 appendix; improve Sec "buildd" a bit
110 - README-contrib added giving information for authors, contributors,
112 - eliminate the ByHand stuff, I'm pretty sure it's not needed now
113 with the DDP builder process, or if it is needed, it's a probably
114 that can be fixed by DDP folks
115 - stop shipping SGML source -- use 'apt-get source developers-reference'
116 after all, this is supposed to be a binary package, right?
117 - simply PS and PDF building rules
119 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Mon, 9 Dec 2002 03:04:19 -0500
121 developers-reference (3.2) unstable; urgency=low
124 - merged a bit misplaced lintian-reports section within the lintian
125 section and adjusted links
126 - added the missing description of dh-make and adjusted links
128 - ChangeLog attribution updates
129 - fix typos, closes: #171781
130 - expand the doc-base abstract and authors
131 - Ch "Packaging Practices" rewritten intro
132 - Sec "Packaging tools and common cases" renamed to "Best Practices
133 for debian/rules", and write an intro
134 - Sec "Helper scripts" in practices section rewritten, giving
135 arguments for and against debhelper, mostly for :)
136 - Sec "Package with multiple patches" renamed to "Patching source
137 versus patching at build time" and rewritten
138 - Sec "Multiple binary packages" rewritten
139 - Sec "Handling debconf translations" moved under an
140 "Internationalization" section, and some edits
141 - Sec "Internationalized Documentation" added under Sec
142 "Internationalization"
143 - Sec "Specific packaging practices" renamed to "Common packaging situations"
144 - Sec "Packages using autoconf/automake" rewritten
145 - Sec "Configuration management" moved forward in practices chapter
146 - Sec "Other specific packages" renamed to "Specific types of
147 packages", add info for SGML/XML and Lisp packages
148 - Sec "Writing useful descriptions" heavily edited
149 - Sec "Best practices for maintainer scripts" added, special credit
150 here to Charles Briscoe-Smith for work dating back to 1998; include
151 a POSIX shell snippet showing how to check if a command is the PATH,
153 - Apdx "Overview of Debian Maintainer Tools": remove debget, it's
154 rather useless and broken
155 - normalize up-casing on sections, which should only up-case proper
156 names and the first word
157 - new 'translation-status' script to check status of translations,
158 adapted from doc-check in boot-floppies, source pkg only --
159 oh my, French translation is 54 CVS revisions behind, and Japanese
161 - postinst: don't set /usr/doc symlink, aesthetics
162 - prerm: don't use 'command -v', it's not POSIX
163 - rules: produce md5sums file; break out a 'test' target
165 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sat, 7 Dec 2002 02:28:06 -0500
167 developers-reference (3.1.2) unstable; urgency=low
170 - DDP publishing update
172 - doc-base file includes French and Japanese files
173 - debsign invocation was slightly wrong, closes: #170523
174 - Sec "Handling debconf translations", updates from Martin Quinson
175 for po-debconf with minimal editorial changes, closes: #169007
177 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Wed, 27 Nov 2002 21:16:30 -0500
179 developers-reference (3.1.1) unstable; urgency=low
182 - updated IRC stuff, thanks to Ben Armstrong, closes: #161403
183 - fixed/updated/extended stuff about bugs, hoping to address the
184 issue of people abusing the changelog bug closing feature
186 - added myself as co-author
187 - fix a typo in Sec "Collaborative maintenance", closes: #161488
189 - updated security information, merging in Joey's stuff from the
190 Security Team FAQ and various updates and clarifications
192 - fix some bad URLs, closes: #168357
193 - fix a grammar typo, closes: #166098
195 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Tue, 12 Nov 2002 23:15:03 -0500
197 developers-reference (3.1) unstable; urgency=low
200 - Corrected several errors with —
201 - Applied patch from Peter Palfrader, correcting
202 the URL for the Debian Voting Information page. closes: #150427
203 - Applied patch from Matej Vela, dpkg-buildpackage does no more
204 require -sa for version -0.1. closes: #150861
205 - Applied the reformulations proposed by David Kimdon. closes: #150572
206 - Applied the patch of Matt Zimmerman. Thanks Matt! closes: #145287
207 - Added the explanation about how to replace an .orig.tar.gz.
209 - Mostly deleted the paragraph about security upload in the
210 section explaining source NMU. Just added a link to point to
211 "Handling security-related bugs". closes: #159935
212 - Added a link to the Technical Committee web page (in the "Bug
213 housekeeping" section). closes: #151365
214 - Explain uploads to testing-proposed-updates, mentions briefly
215 stable-security and testing-security. closes: #149666
216 Removed the comment about uploads to frozen.
217 - Documented the "Developer's packages overview" web portal.
219 - Added a reference to debian-l10n-english in "Writing useful
220 descriptions". closes: #158609
221 - Added a Best Packaging Practice section for "Packages using
222 autoconf/automake". closes: #158045
223 - Documented associated features to db.debian.org like SSH key
224 replication and *.debian.net DNS entry. closes: #155389
225 - Added a section about "Bug Squashing Parties".
227 - removed obsolete, needless dupload variables
228 - applied linguistic fixes from David Kimdon, closes: #150572
229 - random proofreading, mostly changing he -> they
230 - added people.d.o and non-us.d.o to the Debian servers section, and
231 mostly rewrote it to exclude real machine names and be better organized
232 - updated the mailing lists section
234 - debian/changelog: remove obsolete Emacs variables
235 - editorial review of the changes above, minor tagging changes,
238 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Tue, 10 Sep 2002 21:57:41 -0400
240 developers-reference (3.0) unstable; urgency=low
243 - welcome Manoj Srivastava as a co-maintainer
244 - welcome Raphael Hertzog as a co-maintainer
246 - new Chapter "Resource for Debian Developers", incorporating
248 Ch "Mailing Lists, Servers, and Other Machines"
249 Ch "The Debian Archive"
251 - new Chapter "Managing Packages", incorporating former chapters
253 Ch "Non-Maintainer Uploads (NMUs)"
254 Ch "Porting and Being Ported"
255 Ch "Moving, Removing, Renaming, Adopting, and Orphaning Packages"
256 Ch "Handling Bugs" (retitled "Handling package bugs")
257 Sec "Bug housekeeping" (new section, some parts stubbed out)
259 - new Chapter "Beyond Packaging" recommends ways to contribute
260 to Debian beyond issues of package maintenance; incoporates
261 Ch "Interaction with Prospective Developers", retitled to
262 Sec "Interacting with Prospective Debian Developers"
263 Sec "Submitting Bugs", renamed to "Reporting Bugs"
264 Sec "QA" moved here from old Sec "Quality Assurance effort"
265 Sec "Dealing with unreachable maintainers"
267 - Sec "The Developers Database" added under Resources
268 - new Sec "Collaborative Maintenance" concerning multiple maintainers
271 - Sec "Getting started": add link to New Maintainers' Guide
272 - Sec "Debian Mentors" renamed to "Debian Mentors and Sponsors",
273 we add some info on sponsoring; also in Sec "Sponsoring packages"
274 - Section's first word capitalized, rest are normal case
275 - purge a reference to the Packaging Manual; closes: #145039
276 - misc. cross-referencing with new or moved sections
277 - change some literal quotes to ‘, ”, etc.
278 - tagging improvements: replace <tt> with <file> for files and
279 directories; since <tt><var> and <example><var> doesn't look right,
280 work-around with <...>
281 - entity'ize master.debian.org, us-upload-dir, non-us-upload-dir
282 - update copyright date
283 - some simplifications on the TeX suffix rule
284 - spell check and grammar corrections
288 - changed -e by -m in the dpkg-buildpackage command line example;
290 - clarify wording between "porter upload", "binary-only NMU", "simple
291 recompile"; closes: #102626
292 - extended "removing a package"; closes: #135560
293 - Ch "Best Packaging Practices": new chapter, including new
294 Sec "Writing useful descriptions" as a first entry in that
295 chapter; closes: #53109, #129848
296 - indicate that the list of subsections is defined in the policy;
298 - removed some cruft in `Announcing package uploads'
299 - document the testing scripts; closes: #129445
300 - explain how to reassign/close bugs of removed packages;
302 - updates the note about software subject to US patents;
304 - new Section "Contacting other maintainers" under "Beyond packaging"
305 Document the package@packages.debian.org alias; closes: #114553
306 - new Section "Package's information" under Resources
307 Document http://packages.debian.org/<package>,
308 http://bugs.debian.org/<package> and the madison utility
309 - Sec "Reporting bugs": added http://bugs.debian.org/from:email@isp.com
310 - Sec "Handling bugs": added http://bugs.debian.org/login@debian.org
311 - Sec "The Incoming system" in "Resources", describe how it works and
312 also speak of the DELAYED directory; closes: #135562, #136774
314 - Sec "Developer Database": added a sentence about finger
316 - update the total number of packages and the example directory tree
318 - updated the list of available architectures.
319 - commented out the "Subsections" section since it will RSN have nothing
320 to with the Debian archive. It's just a generic information field
321 of the package and nothing more.
322 - added more incentive to use experimental since it doesn't cause
323 any pain to the ftpmasters.
324 - Sec "When to do a source NMU": updated the NMU "protocol" and suggest
325 the use of the delayed queue.
326 - new Section "Acknowledging the NMUs" to explain the need to integrate
327 the changes introduced by NMUs. Insists on the fact that one shouldn't
329 - stubbed in new Section "Collaborative maintenance"
330 - stubbed in new Section "The Package Tracking System"
331 - Sec "The Package Tracking System": filled with content from
332 Francesco Paolo Lovergine, heavily updated by myself
333 - new Section "Managing sponsored packages" contributed by
334 Francesco Paolo Lovergine, slightly updated by myself
335 - new Sec "Bug housekeeping"; closes: #39519
337 - new Sec "Documentation"
338 - added Sec "IRC channels" in the Resources chapter
339 - added Sec "pbuilder" in the appendix. Mention it in the section
340 "Being kind to porter" too
341 - extended Sec "devscripts" with info about "bts" and "uscan"
342 - completed Sec "Helper scripts"
343 - completed Sec "Package with multiple patches",
344 "Multiple binary packages", "Libraries", "Other specific packages",
345 "The wise use of debconf" -- all those are quite simplistic, they
347 - integrated Sec "Handling debconf translations" contributed by
348 Denis Barbier -- thanks, Denis!
351 - update French translation
353 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 14 Jun 2002 01:18:19 -0400
355 developers-reference (2.11) unstable; urgency=low
358 - some grammar corrections
359 - update French translation
361 - changes in upload situation, not possible to remove from Incoming
362 anymore; closes: #135559
363 - also talk about dput a tiny bit
365 - Ch "Overview of Debian Maintainer Tools":
367 - Charles Briscoe-Smith deprecates yada (I think new maintainers of
368 that would be welcome)
369 - debconf-doc mentioned for debconf
370 - debhelper: don't talk about debmake; mention how to get info on the dh-* pkgs
371 - dput: new section, closes: #129378
372 - debootstrap: new section, closes: #129377
373 - dpkg-dev-el: new section
374 - other minor wording changes
375 - Sec "Mailing Lists": where to find private archives, closes: #96780
376 - Ch "Package uploads":
377 - new Sec "Adding an entry to debian/changelog"
378 - rename Sec "Announcing new packages" to "New packages"
379 - crypto is in main, non-US is for patent restrictions, so:
380 - excise some text from "Registering as a Debian developer"
381 - changes in Sec "Uploading to ftp-master"
382 - changes in Sec "Uploading to non-US"
383 * old bugs closed out, closes: #110573
385 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 7 Apr 2002 23:34:08 -0700
387 developers-reference (2.10.0) unstable; urgency=low
389 * from Martin Michlmayr
390 - update the "Applying to Become a New Maintainer" section, with
391 review by Raphael Hertzog, closes: #133965
392 - bugs closed in NMUs should uses 'closes' changelog entries,
394 - developers are not required to subscribe to debian-private
396 - some suggestions on places to use the proper term, Debian GNU/Linux,
398 - fix some typos, closes: #133956
400 - frozen doesn't exist anymore, just testing; note, however, that
401 there is a way to upload to 'woody-proposed-updates' -- if I can
402 find some description of that, I'll document it; closes: #133948
405 - isolate a few more language-independent bits
407 - change /usr/doc to /usr/share/doc, and typo in debian/copyright,
410 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 24 Feb 2002 14:46:46 -0500
412 developers-reference (2.9.0) unstable; urgency=low
415 - created a new subsection about uploading to stable, and elaborated
417 - removed a stray sentence about stable from the paragraph about
418 security uploads (which apply to all distributions equally)
419 - replaced the nonexistent term "Security Manager" with "security officer"
420 - uploading to stable and unstable is deprecated; updated the section
421 about the experimental distribution; other fixes in the section
422 talking about uploading to distributions
423 - better organize some subsections in the section about package uploads
424 - replaced some bogus <ftppath>s with <tt>s
425 - noted how there is an upload queue on pandora, too
427 - French translation updated
429 - normalize '--' as — for prettier output
430 - integrate changes from James Troup, part of #102626
431 - typo fix thanks to Mark Hodge
433 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 21 Oct 2001 01:03:01 -0400
435 developers-reference (2.8.8) unstable; urgency=low
438 - a few more strong words about sponsoring
439 - started a new chapter about the relationship between old and new
442 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 20 Jul 2001 17:53:47 -0400
444 developers-reference (2.8.7) unstable; urgency=low
447 * fix a typo in a link
448 * dpkg-buildpackage -m<addr> flag was changed for -e<addr> when NMU'ing;
449 update documentation accordingly
451 * Matt Zimmerman fixes up some wording in the section talking about
452 forwarding bugs upstream
454 * provide proper l10n for SGML date entities; now we have &date-<LANG>
455 entities which should be used
456 * debian/rules: fixes for new debiandoc-sgml
457 * debian/control: depend on debiandoc-sgml 1.1.48 or better
459 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Thu, 21 Jun 2001 14:43:42 -0400
461 developers-reference (2.8.6) unstable; urgency=low
463 * fix a typo, thanks to Antoine Hulin
464 * French version: completely up-to-date now
465 * Makefile: add a 'validate' target
466 * prepare and ship "upstream" ChangeLog; move the debian changelog to
468 * all versions: change the email address to use when orphaning
471 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 13 Apr 2001 03:32:08 -0400
473 developers-reference (2.8.5) unstable; urgency=low
475 * expunge references to the Debian Packaging Manual, which is now in the
477 * Japanese version: also comment out some references packaging manual;
478 this translation needs updating
479 * deny request to shut down non-maintainer bug maintenance bug closure
480 practices (closes: Bug#88623)
481 * add some advice about U.S. citizens uploading to non-US
483 * debian/control: Build-Depends should have been Build-Depends-Indep
484 * French version: First complete translation of the Debian developer's
485 reference guide. Much work done by Antoine Hulin. Reviewed by Nicolas
487 * Portuguese version: work is started by Carlos Laviola, nothing
488 included yet, however
490 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 8 Apr 2001 01:25:51 -0400
492 developers-reference (2.8.4) unstable; urgency=low
494 * debian/control: remove reference to obsolete packaging-manual package
496 * debian/control: fill in the description a bit more
497 * doc-base: index.html corrected to be index.en.html
499 * Makefile: clean is cleaner
501 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 25 Feb 2001 12:47:06 -0500
503 developers-reference (2.8.3) unstable; urgency=low
505 * build and provide French and Japanese versions
506 * devolve build logic from debian/rules to top-level Makefile
507 * developers-reference.jp.sgml: minor changes so it will build (is out
509 * debian/rules: stop making useless /usr/share/developers-reference dir
511 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Mon, 22 Jan 2001 02:02:02 -0500
513 developers-reference (2.8.2) unstable; urgency=low
516 - fix typographic errors reported by David Martinez (closes: Bug#80740)
517 - common.ent: upped the numbers a little bit, updated lintian reports URL
518 - updated regarding va->klecker move, and www->people move, changed
519 most mentions of dinstall to a generic term "archive maintenance
520 software", removed full path to it because it is in PATH now,
521 mentioned "dak" and "katie" (somewhat vaguely), changed week to
522 month regarding FTP archive waiting time since that\'s more often
523 the case, and changed weeks to hours regarding Maintainers file
524 updates since that\'s also more often the case now, updated some
525 URLs to entities, s/debian-doc/doc-debian/
526 - replaced evil latin1-only quotation marks, replaced mentions of
527 important severity (in RCB context) with serious severity, some
529 - common.ent (1.10): fixed email-debian-user alias; updated
530 sample-dist-dirtree (with more to come)
531 - described testing; described package pools (this particular part
532 required quite a bit of changes, and it might be a bit rough, but
533 it's a start); described the frozen test cycles et al; some other
535 - another update WRT sid/unstable/testing, from Colin Watson
537 * debian/control: add Recommends for debian-policy, packaging-manual
538 * update copyright notice for 2001
539 * fix for WNPP bug filing severities from David Schleef
540 * clarify the status of the Developers's reference as "normative"
541 * add a reference to debconf (closes: Bug#82413)
543 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 21 Jan 2001 18:10:21 -0500
545 developers-reference (2.8.1) unstable; urgency=low
547 * update WNPP instructions, based on patch from Marcelo E. Magallon
549 * spelling corrections, awkward grammar suggestions from Andreas Krueger
551 * debian/rules: remove some obsolete source-depends stuff
553 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sat, 4 Nov 2000 13:22:21 -0500
555 developers-reference (2.8.0) unstable; urgency=low
557 * Almost all changes for this release are from Josip Rodin
558 <joy@debian.org>. Thanks, Josip!
560 * debian/control, postinst, prerm, rules: Policy 3.2.1 (closes:
561 Bug#68929, Bug#70384)
562 * fixed bug closing example (closes: Bug#71198)
563 * update the perl regexp from current /usr/lib/dpkg/parsechangelog/debian
564 * updated keyring/keyserver information (closes: Bug#67783)
565 * updated new-maintainer stuff (closes: Bug#67841)
566 * updated for master -> ftp-master move (closes: Bug#68369)
567 * noted www.d.o is the right host for web pages, but all other machines
568 could be used if necessary
569 * reorder mentions of scp to come before FTP, as it is more secure;
570 mention the rsync dupload method
571 * reorder mentions of pandora <-> non-us, canonical name non-us is
573 * other small corrections
574 * fixed orphaning/adopting instructions with regard to the new WNPP
575 * common.ent: fix urls for cvs.d.o, wnpp, Debian machines page,
576 lists-archives, www.d.o BTS
577 * common.ent: changed link for machines from devel/maintainer_contacts
579 * Makefile: remove unnecessary subshell
581 * Adam's change: update debian/copyright for new Policy, and put my name
582 in there a bit with updated years; update doc-base file for FHS
584 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 15 Oct 2000 03:25:21 -0400
586 developers-reference (2.7.2) frozen unstable; urgency=medium
588 * I believe this should go into frozen because (a) it's only
589 documentation, so it can't introduce RC bugs, and (b) it fixes an
590 error which prevented it from building properly; however, whatever
591 ftpmaster feels is best is fine
593 * include common.ent as well as version.ent
594 (closes: Bug#52582, Bug#48926)
595 * debian/rules: fix build error caused by newer debiandoc-sgml; remove
596 constitution.en.html, since that is now located in the doc-debian
597 package (closes: Bug#54778, Bug#42014); don't compress .pdf file
599 * All changes below from Raphael Hertzog <hertzog@debian.org>
601 * Sec. "Uploading to master" and "Uploading to pandora":
602 explained dinstall -n (closes: Bug#45079)
603 * Sec. "Picking a distribution": added reference to the debian-release
604 team (closes: Bug#52906)
605 * Sec. "Announcing package uploads": rewrote it to take care of the fact
606 that dinstall is doing it automatically (closes: Bug#43877)
607 * Sec. "Mailing lists": added a paragraph about debian-email
609 * Changed the "Maintaining Your Debian Information" into "Debian
610 Developer's Duties" (closes: Bug#28908)
611 - added a section about the LDAP database
612 - added a section about the "on vacation" message
613 - added a section about the coordination with upstream developers
615 - added a section about managing Release Critical bugs
616 - added a section about Quality Assurance effort
618 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 16 Apr 2000 23:24:33 -0400
620 developers-reference (2.7.1) unstable; urgency=low
622 * Sec. "Registering as a Debian developer": we are transitioning away
623 from non-free PGP -- remove allusions to non-free software such as
624 PGPv2 or v5 insofar as possible; recommend use of DSS keys rather than
626 * Sec. "Maintaining Your Public Key": remove PGP-centric stuff
627 * Sec. "When bugs are closed by new uploads": describe how to close bugs
628 via a magic changelog entry (closes: Bug#43690)
629 * Sec. "Generating the changes file": refer to Sec. "When bugs are
630 closed by new uploads" for closing bugs via a changelog entry
631 * developers-reference.sgml: re-enable RCS variables in CVS sources
632 * debian/control,rules: dynamically generate the TOC in the package
633 description from developers-reference.sgml
635 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 12 Sep 1999 18:15:59 -0400
637 developers-reference (2.7.0) unstable; urgency=low
639 * developers-reference.sgml: separated out language-independant elements
640 into common.ent (not content changes); misc minor grammar changes
642 * doc-base: change section for *constitution* to Debian (not 'debian')
644 * Sec. "Stable, unstable, and sometimes frozen": mention how old stable
645 releases are available at archive.debian.org
646 * Sec. "Uploading to pandora (non-us)" added, remove stale
647 information about the old anonymous ftp area (closes Bug#39541);
648 Sec. "Other Upload Queues" added about that upload queues, added
649 samosa and master.debian.org.jp (closes Bug#37804)
650 * Sec. "Yada": mention that yada might not be as robust as other package
651 producing systems, at request of the author; Sec. "equivs" added
652 * Sec. "Moving packages": at the request of Guy Maor, clarify that this
653 procedure is for moving packages in sections (i.e., free, contrib)
655 * Sec. "Registering as a Debian developer": talk about RSA keys rather
656 than PGP keys, since I think GPG can create/handle them now; mention
657 that the official pkg maintainer address much match an ID on your key;
658 * Sec. "Maintaining Your Public Key": beef up the warnings a bit; point
660 * Sec. "Mailing Lists, Servers, and Other Machines": clean up and
661 clarify section; mention that all developers are expected to be
662 subscribed to debian-private and debian-devel-announce
663 * Sec. "Other Debian Machines": remove list of machines; point to
664 http://www.debian.org/devel/machines instead
665 * Sec. "Release code names": potato is 2.2
666 * Sec. "Guidelines for Porter Uploads": talk about recompile only
667 uploads and version numbers for this (i.e., foo_2.4-1.0.1), from a
668 suggestion from James Troup
669 * Sec. "buildd": mention andrea, and buildd.debian.org
670 * Sec. "Removing packages": correct apt-cache usage
671 * debain/rules: update standards to 3.0.1 -- since I'm not moving
672 /usr/doc to /usr/share/doc yet, no changes were required except in the
675 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Mon, 16 Aug 1999 23:29:45 -0400
677 developers-reference (2.6.8) unstable; urgency=low
679 * when applying as a new user, the login name can be *eight* characters,
680 not seven (thanks to Rafael Caetano dos Santos)
682 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 21 May 1999 21:50:04 -0400
684 developers-reference (2.6.7) unstable; urgency=low
686 * SGML'ish: normalize SGML elements, refill paragraphs (closes Bug#37987)
687 * doc-base: change section to Debian -- hmm, this looks like a doc-base
688 bug, really, but hey, who am I to refile bugs to another one of my own
689 packages? (closes Bug#37392)
690 * Ch. "Overview of Debian Maintainer Tools": new section for yada (um,
691 someone who uses this should check my description), correct build ->
692 debuild in the devscripts section (closes Bug#38053)
694 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 21 May 1999 01:41:45 -0400
696 developers-reference (2.6.6) unstable; urgency=low
698 * Sec. "The master server": note that problems on Debian ftp can be sent
699 to ftpmaster@debian.org also
700 * Secs. "Uploads via chiark" and "Uploads via erlangen": remove
701 'cron-driven' (thanks Roman Hodek)
702 * Sec. "Being Kind to Porters": typos corrected, note that binary-arch
703 and binary-indep targets should work independantly (thanks Roman
705 * Sec. "buildd": remove erroneous reference to debbuild, reorganize the
706 section and correct typos (thank again Roman -- boy, this is the all
708 * debian/rules: re-enable letter-sized PDFs
710 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 9 May 1999 01:17:29 -0400
712 developers-reference (2.6.5) unstable; urgency=low
714 * Sec. "Architectures": correction on supported architecture in Linux
716 * Sec. "Experimental": other reasons to use or not use the experiment
717 archive "section", from comments by Guy Maor
718 * Sec. "Being Kind to Porters": replace x86 with i386 (closes Bug#36485)
719 * debian/rules: date printing protected from local l10n (closes Bug#36891)
720 * Ch. "Mailing Lists, Servers, and Other Machines": renamed chapter; add
722 * Sec. "Debian Servers": new, for talking about the standard servers,
723 with intro; demoted server sections under that
724 * Sec. "The FTP servers": was empty, removed
725 * Sec. "The master server": fill in more info and cross-refs on how to
727 * Sec. "The CVS server": add some more detail which should be included
728 when requesting cvs areas; mention the cvsweb URL
729 * Sec. "Other Debian Machines": new section, list the machines for which
730 a normal developer may have access.
732 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Tue, 4 May 1999 03:32:21 -0400
734 developers-reference (2.6.4) unstable; urgency=low
736 * debian/rules: hack 'byhand' file entries to include debian version
737 number in it, so subsequent uploads of the package into Incoming don't
738 step all over each other
740 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 9 Apr 1999 20:04:04 -0400
742 developers-reference (2.6.3) unstable; urgency=low
744 * correction from James Troup -- <keyring-maint> is indeed the correct
745 address for PGP key updates
747 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 4 Apr 1999 13:28:58 -0400
749 developers-reference (2.6.2) unstable; urgency=low
751 * Sec. "fakeroot": libtricks is not replacing anything after all
752 * developers-reference.sgml: use public declaration
753 * BTW, if any maintainers of translated versions of this document would
754 like to talk to me about folding your version into the
755 developers-reference CVS area, please get in touch with me
757 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 4 Apr 1999 04:42:29 -0400
759 developers-reference (2.6.1) unstable; urgency=low
761 * include Debian constitution (closes Bug#30694)
762 * Sec. "fakeroot": libtricks is replacing fakeroot, not libtool
763 * Sec. "Maintaining Your Public Key" -- give email addresses as
764 {pgp,gpg}-update@debian.org, at James Troup's request (note to Jameas,
765 if you see this: /usr/doc/debian-keyring/README.gz talks about
766 <keyring-maint> instead)
767 * Ch. "Overview of Debian Maintainer Tools" -- add Sec. "debget"
768 * developers-reference.sgml: minor typo correction from Tril
770 * doc-base stuff: add abstract to developers-reference, new file for
772 * debian/rules: minor cleanup and consistency; build PDF, not PS file;
773 ship PDF file;.text file now has .txt extension
774 * debian/control: set priority to optional, matching archive
776 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sat, 3 Apr 1999 17:17:06 -0500
778 developers-reference (2.6.0) frozen unstable; urgency=low
780 * would be nice to sneak this into slink; it's just documentation!
781 * Ch. "Porting and Being Ported": porter information broken out into it's
782 own chapter, Sec. "Guidelines for Porter Uploads" and "When to do a
783 source NMU if you are a porter" moved to this chapter; porter tool
784 descriptions such as 'quinn-diff' moved to this section. Sec. "Being
785 Kind to Porters" added, with tips for how to avoid making problems for
787 * Ch. "Non-Maintainer Uploads (NMUs)": update for the new chapter, and
788 tighten up the language a bit
789 * Sec. "Monitoring bugs": add a little cron job to get an 'index maint'
790 of outstanding bugs (closes Bug#31259), loosen language a tiny bit
791 w.r.t. non-maintainers or submitters closing bugs (closes Bug#30394)
792 * Sec. "Scope of This Document": point out that this file is not
794 * Ch. "Handling Bugs": renamed from "Handling Bug Reports", incorporate
795 some suggestions from James Troup, namely, don't mail from your root
796 account, don't close bugs via control@bugs.debian.org; break out new
797 sections, "Submitting Bugs" and "Responding to Bugs"
798 * Ch. "Overview of Debian Maintainer Tools": remove attribution for
799 package maintainers, since I can't keep up; add entries for fakeroot
801 * Ch. "Maintaining Your Debian Information": new chapter, quite small
802 right now; it mentions keyring-maint@debian.org for key modification,
803 warns against putting private keys on multi-user machines, and talks
804 about how to depart Debian gracefully
805 * typo correction from Christian Hudon (closes Bug#32052)
806 * menu file removed, obsoleted by doc-base file
807 * parameterize some often-changing values with SGML entities, update
808 number of available packages
809 * use new way of notating multiple copyrights
810 * change <tt> elements to <file> where appropriate
812 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Thu, 11 Feb 1999 02:53:55 -0500
814 developers-reference (2.5.0.5) unstable; urgency=low
816 * add version.ent to docdir, needed to reconstruct from SGML
819 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Tue, 29 Dec 1998 02:42:50 -0500
821 developers-reference (2.5.0.4) unstable; urgency=low
823 * not officially released
824 * more spelling corrections
825 * s/ppc/powerpc/ (thanks, James Troup)
827 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 18 Dec 1998 00:07:40 -0500
829 developers-reference (2.5.0.3) unstable; urgency=low
831 * not officially released
832 * Sec. "Removing a package from Incoming": tiny section added
833 * some PGP-centricity removed
834 * Sec. "Adopting a package": point out that hijacking packages is not ok
835 * Ch. "Non-Maintainer Uploads (NMUs) and Porters": change 'NMU' to
836 'source NMU', 'port' to 'binary NMU', shorten the window for porters a
837 tad; fix spelling; stress that non-maintainer patches must be
838 non-disruptive and that aesthetic issues are not suitable for fixing
839 by non-maintainers; other fixes as suggested by interested parties
841 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Wed, 25 Nov 1998 00:01:27 -0500
843 developers-reference (2.5.0.2) frozen unstable; urgency=low
845 * not officially released
846 * maintainer name change (but it's still me)
847 * Ch. "Non-Maintainer Uploads (NMUs) and Porters": new chapter
848 discussing NMUs and porters; Section "Interim Releases" integrated out
849 of existance. New TOC for this section is:
850 * 6 Non-Maintainer Uploads (NMUs) and Porters
851 + 6.1 Who can do a port or an NMU
852 + 6.2 When to do a port or an NMU
853 o 6.2.1 When to do an NMU if you are a porter
854 + 6.3 How to do an NMU
855 o 6.3.1 NMU version numbering
856 o 6.3.2 NMUs must create a changelog entry
857 o 6.3.3 NMUs must send patches, if any, to the BTS
858 o 6.3.4 Building the NMU
859 + 6.4 Guidelines for Porters
861 * Sec. "Maintainer changes": renamed to "Adopting a package" and moved
862 to Chapter "Moving, Removing, Renaming, Adopting, and Orphaning
864 * Sec. "Reporting lots of bugs at once": more forcefully deprecate this
866 * Sec. "Adopting a package": mention that the BTS maintainer update can
867 take a couple of weeks
868 * Sec. "Overview of Debian Maintainer Tools": give credit where credit
869 is due and attribute current maintainers; add `apt'; add `quinn-diff';
870 add mention of as yet unreleased 'buildd' package, since I'm so
871 excited about it and can't wait
872 * Sec. "Removing packages": talk about how apt-cache can be used to look
873 at reverse depends, a good step to take prior to removing a package
875 * show *full* TOC, including sect2
876 * of course the obligatory typo, grammar, and spelling corrections
878 * Makefile: small changes to accomodate DDP autobuild
879 * debian/dirs: obsolete, removed
880 * debian/rules: use changelog date for SGML timestamping, not current date
882 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 20 Nov 1998 12:27:53 -0500
884 developers-reference (2.5.0) frozen unstable; urgency=low
886 * move to 3-level version number:
887 top-level version number probably won't change for a while, it is the
888 "major", the second-level number means significant content changes,
889 and the third-level change means corrections and minor improvements.
890 Since this version has significant content changes, we are now 2.5.0.
891 Since I'm going to put porter instructions in the next major rev, that
894 * use new <package> tag where appropriate (Ardo, you rock)
895 * replace 'm86k' with 'm68k'
896 * rename 'Whirlwind Tour of ...' section to 'Overview of ...' (suggested
898 * typos and "red-pen" corrections, fix cosmetic problems in PostScript
900 * remove the one case I use an URL fragment identifier, since
901 debiandoc-sgml doesn't like it (bug filed against debiandoc-sgml)
902 * debian/rules: cosmetic cleanups, loosen check for root
903 * debian/rules: build PostScript version during build, since it's nice
904 to have all my debiandoc2* scripts together
905 * debian/control: policy compliant to 2.5.0
907 * advise against uploading when a package has lintian problems of
909 * "Mailing Lists and Servers":
910 - "The master server": mention how master is the home of the BTS;
911 mention how users need to take care with their accounts on master
912 - "The WWW servers": fill in www.debian.org, first pass, and discuss
913 how to put up your own web pages on va or master
914 - "The CVS server": new section added
915 - "Mirrors of Debian servers": new section added; point to info about
917 * "Applying to Become a Maintainer": do not advise resending initial
918 application; instead, simply mail a followup asking new maintainers
919 whether they go the initial application (closes Bug #28739); mention
920 that calls usually come in the evening; mention that if you use PGP
921 v5, you need to generate an RSA key (right?); clarify our intentions
923 * "Release code names": Debian 2.2 is 'potato'
924 * "Distribution directories": give concrete examples, hopefully making
925 it clearer where to look in Debian archives for specific stuff;
926 mention that old distributions are moved to archive servers (is there
927 a canonical location?)
928 * "The override file": new section, added under "Notification that a new
929 package has been installed"; fill it out quite a bit
930 * "Uploading to *": reiterate thrice not to upload export
931 controlled-software to master, or the European queues on erlangen and
933 * "Picking a distribution": section broken out from "Generating the
935 * "Uploading to frozen": new section, almost straight from Brian White
936 (hope you don't mind!) -- isn't that topical?
937 * "Interim releases": if you NMU a new upstream version (0.1), run
938 'dpkg-buildpackage -sa'
940 -- Adam P. Harris <aph@debian.org> Thu, 12 Nov 1998 00:03:43 -0500
942 developers-reference (2.4.1.5) unstable; urgency=low
944 * Fix instructions for new maintainers, incorporating the actual text
945 sent to prospective new maintainers. Improve this text a bit for
946 readability, coverage, and organization. Significant changes were
947 patched back to the new-maintainers group, if they care to use
948 them. (closes Bug#26948)
949 * Add an introductory "Scope" chapter which helps delineate what should
950 and should not be included in this Reference.
951 * Add a new chapter, "Whirlwind Tour of Debian Maintainer Tools". Let
952 me know what useful tools I forgot -- remember, Debian-specific
953 maintainer tools only!
954 * Add discussion of the "experimental" distribution, culled from an email
955 from Guy Maor on debian-devel.
956 * Incorporated suggestions from Branden Robinson (closes Bug#27211).
957 * Point to doc-debian's mailing list instructions where relevant.
958 * Made references to online documentation into URLs where possible.
959 * Little corrections here and there.
960 * add a Makefile for use in the DDP manual hierarchy
961 * debian/rules: comment out my 'source-depends' hack; it's just slowing
964 -- Adam P. Harris <aph@debian.org> Thu, 1 Oct 1998 03:42:43 -0400
966 developers-reference (2.4.1.4) unstable; urgency=low
968 * fill in Section "The master server" a bit; other servers to follow
969 * in Section "Distribution directories", mention that distributions
970 are always in 'dists' subdir of the Debian archive; talk about
972 * in Section "Release code names", talk about 'sid' a bit
973 * in Section "Interim releases", talk about how non-maintainers should
974 use the BTS, and bug severity "fixed" (closes Bug#17524)
975 * in Section "Generating the changes file", talk about how to set the
976 distribution in the debian/changelog file (i.e., "frozen unstable")
977 * add a new Section "Checking the package prior to upload" to Section
978 "Uploading a package", mentioning lintian and other tests one should
979 do prior to uploading
980 * add new Section "Notification that a new package has been installed"
981 in Section "Uploading a package", talking about dinstall and the
983 * add new Sections "Moving packages", "Removing packages", "Replacing or
984 renaming packages", and "Orphaning a package" (closes Bug#26650)
985 * add new Section "Bugs in your packages", talking about maintainer
986 duties with respect to bugs
987 * add new Section "Lintian reports" under "Handling bugs reports",
988 talking about how maintainers should check their packages with lintian
989 every now and then, alternatively pointing them to the lintian web
991 * clarify, a bit, the use of "section" and "subsection", bringing it
992 into line with the usage in the Policy Manual and Packaging Manual
993 * grammar and markup changes throughout
994 * debian/rules: added a crude source-depends rule, which renders more
995 explicit what is used to build this package
997 -- Adam P. Harris <aph@debian.org> Mon, 21 Sep 1998 00:51:46 -0400
999 developers-reference (2.4.1.3) unstable; urgency=low
1002 * version number and date are automatically populated now
1003 * changed doc-base section to "debian"
1004 * debian/rules: better abstraction and organization
1005 * reformat SGML like I happen to like it
1006 * utilize the new URL tag
1007 * build PostScript on letter size, I hear thats better for A4 and US
1010 -- Adam P. Harris <aph@debian.org> Thu, 16 Jul 1998 00:52:35 -0400
1012 developers-reference (2.4.1.2) frozen unstable; urgency=low
1014 * non-maintainer release
1015 * rebuilt since HTML versions of Chapters 1 and 2 were truncated
1016 (important bug, no number yet, bugs.debian.org isn't working;
1017 regardless, this should go in hamm because a broken developers
1018 reference won't win us many friends in hamm, and after all, it's just
1019 text, it can't hurt you.)
1020 * no content changes, except that the version number in the SGML file
1021 reflect this packages version number
1022 * debian/rule: clean is cleaner now
1024 -- Adam P. Harris <aph@debian.org> Tue, 16 Jun 1998 01:35:39 -0400
1026 developers-reference (2.4.1.1) frozen unstable; urgency=low
1030 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Thu, 14 May 1998 21:56:36 +0200
1032 developers-reference (2.4.1.0) frozen unstable; urgency=low
1034 * New version numbering scheme:
1036 - The version numbers are independent of dpkg now, but all policy
1037 manuals (the Debian Policy Manual, the Debian Packaging Manual, and
1038 the Debian Developer's Reference) share the same version numbering
1041 - The first three digits of the version number specify the
1042 `Standards-Version.' This number is incremented with each policy
1043 change. The fourth digit represents the `patch-level,' which may
1044 differ between the manuals.
1046 If only the patch-level digit is incremented, no changes in policy
1047 have been made, except bug fixes and clarifications. Packages only
1048 have to specify the first three digits of the version number in the
1049 `Standards-Version' field of their source packages.
1051 * Uploaded to frozen and unstable. This is a documentation-only
1052 package and the changes to the manual are relevant for hamm.
1054 * No changes to the Developer's Reference
1056 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Mon, 13 Apr 1998 17:54:43 +0200
1058 developers-reference (0.5) unstable; urgency=low
1060 * Changes to the Developer's Reference:
1062 - Changed section 1.2 Registering as a Debian developer:
1063 + signatures from formal certification service are _NOT_ accepted
1065 + images of ID documents have to be PGP or RSA signed
1066 (as requested by James Troup)
1068 - Use current date instead of <date> in manual
1070 * Updated FSF's address (reported by Lintian)
1072 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Sat, 7 Mar 1998 13:52:15 +0100
1074 developers-reference (0.4) unstable; urgency=low
1076 * Changes to the Developer's Reference:
1078 - Renamed chapter 4 into `Package uploads'
1080 - New section 4.2.5 Uploading to the non-us server
1082 - Changed section 4.4 Interim releases:
1083 + non-maintainer releases should not close bugs
1084 + normal maintainer must at least read the patch provided with
1085 the non-maintainer release
1087 - New chapter 5 Handling bug reports:
1088 + when reporting more then 10 bugs on the same topic, a message
1089 has to be sent to debian-devel and the `maintonly' address
1092 - Lots of typos fixed
1094 * Compressed SGML source code
1096 * Added support for doc-base to register the Developer's Reference
1097 to the online documentation systems dwww and dhelp
1099 * Upgraded to standards version 2.4.0.0 (no changes)
1101 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Fri, 30 Jan 1998 21:58:34 +0100
1103 developers-reference (0.3) unstable; urgency=low
1105 * Put lost sections from Policy Manual 2.1.3.3 back in:
1106 - Generating the changes file (for uploads)
1107 - Announcing package uploads
1108 * New section about Debian Mentors
1109 * debian/rules: Don't use debstd anymore
1110 * debian/rules: Compress changelog file (fixes:#15441)
1111 * Fixed link to WNPP list (fixes:#16201)
1112 * Added menu entry (fixes:#15708)
1114 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Wed, 24 Dec 1997 13:54:33 +0100
1116 developers-reference (0.2) unstable; urgency=low
1118 * New chapter about `The Debian Archive' describing the structure
1119 of our FTP server and the development process
1120 * Added note that new maintainers have to read the Social Contract
1121 and have to know where to find the Policy and Packaging Manuals
1122 * PGP key ring is not distributed via dpkg but in doc/ of the FTP
1124 * Added note that cross posting between Debian lists is depreciated
1125 * New list of advantages why new packages should be discussed on
1126 debian-devel before they are uploaded
1127 * Added section about how packages are uploaded
1128 * Added note that the Security Managers may do interim releases without
1129 contacting the maintainer
1130 * Removed chapter about bug tracking system (will be included in
1131 a new manual released soon)
1132 * Some minor changes
1133 * Include SGML source in package
1134 * Don't use `2-up' style for PostScript version
1135 * Upgraded to Standards 2.3.0.1
1137 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Sun, 2 Nov 1997 20:53:26 +0100
1139 developers-reference (0.1) unstable; urgency=low
1143 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Tue, 8 Jul 1997 00:19:49 +0200