1 developers-reference (3.4.7) UNRELEASED; urgency=low
4 * Document some best practices for meta-packages. Extend those for
5 transitional packages. Based on a patch by Luca Falavigna
6 <dktrkranz@debian.org> (thanks!). Closes: #569219
7 * Update license pointer to correctly point to GPL-2. Closes: #643929
8 Thanks to Luca Falavigna.
9 * Update URL of Debian Mentors FAQ. Closes: #643930
10 Thanks to Luca Falavigna for the patch.
11 * Refresh some release-specific information. Closes: #643931
12 Based on a patch by Luca Falavigna.
13 * Refresh some ftpmaster-related information. Closes: #643932
14 Thanks to Luca Falavigna for the patch.
15 * Update minimal GPG key length to match current requirements.
16 Closes: #643933 Thanks to Luca Falavigna for the patch.
17 * Update login information for rt.debian.org. Closes: #643934
18 Thanks to Luca Falavigna for the patch.
19 * Drop section about yada. Its usage is highly discouraged. Closes: #643935
20 Thanks to Luca Falavigna for the patch.
23 * Add doc-base file for the German translation.
24 * Update French translation.
25 * Typo fix, thanks to Andreas Moog. Closes: #655096
27 -- David Prévot <taffit@debian.org> Sun, 08 Jan 2012 14:57:56 -0400
29 developers-reference (3.4.6) unstable; urgency=low
32 * Update the NMU rules to take into account the 0-day NMU rule
33 instituted by the release managers. Closes: #625449
36 * Update my email address.
37 * Encourage the use of RT to contact the security team.
38 Patch from Thijs Kinkhorst. Closes: #610782
39 * Document the process of returning after retirement.
40 Patch from Serafeim Zanikolas. Closes: #540249
41 * Add instructions how to mark a non-free package as auto-buildable.
42 Patch from Moritz Muehlenhoff, ACKed by Andreas Barth.
45 -- Lucas Nussbaum <lucas@debian.org> Sun, 31 Jul 2011 19:52:10 +0200
47 developers-reference (3.4.5) unstable; urgency=low
52 * Remove part about -v for package uploads from experimental to unstable,
53 version tracking removed that requirement.
56 * Rework section on "sponsoring packages" and include a basic
57 checklist for the sponsor. Closes: #453313
58 * Update the "Debian Developer's Duties" chapter to be more explicit
59 about duties of package maintainers. Closes: #548867
60 * Update references to merkel (which is decommissionned) where
61 needed. Closes: #619990
62 Thanks to Charles Plessy for the patch.
63 * Many typos fixed by Chris Leick <c.leick@vollbio.de>. Closes: #623512
66 * Initial German translation.
69 * Activate German package. Closes: #623489
70 * Update French translation.
71 * Bump Standards-Version to 3.9.2. No changes needed.
72 * Add build-arch and build-indep targets.
73 * Explicitly refer to GPL-2 file in debian/copyright.
76 * Update Japanese translation.
78 -- David Prévot <taffit@debian.org> Sun, 19 Jun 2011 13:56:46 -0400
80 developers-reference (3.4.4) unstable; urgency=low
83 * Document the new derivatives-bugs PTS keyword.
84 * Removed hp.debian.or.jp reference. Closes: 561597
87 * Update description of the PTS "summary" keyword. Thanks to
88 Simon McVittie <smcv@debian.org> for the patch. Closes: #469154
89 * Add accent on my first name in debian/control.
90 * Use "3.0 (native)" source format with bzip2 compression.
91 Created debian/source/{format,options} for this.
92 * Update guideline for override change to point to BTS
93 instead of email. Thanks to Simon McVittie <smcv@debian.org> for the
94 patch. Closes: #540231
95 * Include full URL to the README of the upload queue. Thanks to Simon
96 McVittie <smcv@debian.org> for the patch. Closes: #540974
97 * The key protecting #debian-private is now stored on a file
98 on master.debian.org, it's no more required to search into
99 the debian-private archives. Thanks to gregor herrmann <gregoa@debian.org>
100 for the patch. Closes: #548823
101 * Update information about upload queues. Thanks to Simon McVittie
102 <smcv@debian.org> for the patches:
103 - point to official names {ftp,ssh}.upload.debian.org. Closes: #554054
104 - drop references to non-working queues. Closes: #554077
105 * Mention docbook, POD and reST as convenient formats to write new manual
106 pages. Thanks to Charles Plessy and the debian-mentors list
107 for the idea and the patch. Closes: #557298
108 * Update several sections to take into account the new source formats “3.0
109 (quilt)” and “3.0 (native)”. Closes: #561952
110 * Drop reference to “dbs” in the section about including binary files.
111 * Fix typo “transfered“ → “transferred”. Closes: #555685
112 * Fix typo “programms“ → “programs”. Closes: #560808
113 * Drop section about debmake, it has been removed of Debian since lenny.
114 * Update URL of the security tracker. Thanks to Salvatore Bonaccorso.
116 * Update URL of Packages-arch-specific. Closes: #553974
117 * Update section about Alioth to mention FusionForge instead of GForge.
118 Drop mention of separate cvs.debian.org it's managed by Alioth too.
120 * Document new "buildd" keyword from the PTS.
121 * Update URL explaining the "Debian Maintainer" status, it's now at
122 http://wiki.debian.org/DebianMaintainer. Closes: #564414
123 * Update number of source packages. Thanks Karl Goetz. Closes: #567235
124 * Update and simplify list of architectures. Thanks Karl Goetz.
126 * Small typo fixes and clarifications/rewordings suggested by Karl Goetz.
128 * Document the notion of "team upload": it looks like an NMU but it's not
129 really one because the uploader is an implicit co-maintainer since he's
130 part of the maintenance team. Thanks to Charles Plessy for the initial
131 patch. Closes: #573110
132 * Update standards-version to 3.9.1 and add missing ${misc:Depends} in
134 * Fix debian/tocsubstvars to cope with the new way dpkg-dev handles
135 multi-lines substitution variables.
138 * Update outdated mentions, typos and tags. Closes: #578664
139 * French translation updated from the 2006 debiandoc version.
140 * Apply updated patch from Nicolas François. Closes: #257150
141 * dinstall run happens four times a day. Closes: #585161
142 * Activate Japanese package.
143 * Handle addendum if it exists.
145 -- Raphaël Hertzog <hertzog@debian.org> Mon, 22 Nov 2010 19:28:03 -0400
147 developers-reference (3.4.3) unstable; urgency=low
149 * Fixed working of the repackaged tarballs section to avoid giving the
150 impression that it's a standard packages must comply with. Closes:
152 * Specify that bugs from removed packages must be closed in foo+rm.
154 * Change the maintainer address to debian-policy@, based on discussion
156 * Bump Standards-Version to 3.8.3. No changes needed.
157 * Update copyright notices and list of authors.
159 -- Lucas Nussbaum <lucas@lucas-nussbaum.net> Thu, 17 Sep 2009 20:56:19 +0200
161 developers-reference (3.4.2) unstable; urgency=low
163 * Applied patch from Justin B Rye that improves the discussion on writing
164 package descriptions. Closes: #516436.
165 * Lenny has been released, update the list of codenames. Closes: #527008.
166 * Applied patch from Paul Wise that adds a paragraph about hostile
167 upstreams. Closes: #523985.
168 * Applied patch from Charles Plessy about providing information to the
169 ftpmasters. Closes: #526410.
170 * In the section about patch systems, mention quilt (wasn not
171 mentionned before) and describe it as the recommended patch system.
172 also mention dpatch and cdbs' patch system. drop dbs. Closes: #525668.
173 * Added a note in the wanna-build section to mention
174 http://release.debian.org/wanna-build.txt. Closes: #516375.
175 * Clarified NMU versioning to reflect existing practices. Closes: #532945.
176 * s/README.Debian-source/README.source/ in the section
177 about repackaged upstream tarballs.
178 * Mention the Gandi.net hosting discount in section 4.13.
179 Applied patch from Tim Retout. Closes: #538245.
180 * Reduce length of title of L10N section so that it is no longer split.
181 Applied patch from Justin B Rye. Closes: #534688.
182 * Bumped debhelper compat level to 5 (4 was deprecated)
183 * Bump Standards-Version to 3.8.2. No changes needed.
184 * Added pointer to debian-project@ post about the wanna-build team.
186 -- Lucas Nussbaum <lucas@lucas-nussbaum.net> Sat, 22 Aug 2009 12:28:04 +0200
188 developers-reference (3.4.1) unstable; urgency=low
191 * Create a publish target in the Makefile to reenable builds on the
195 * Commited DEP1: rework the whole NMU section.
196 The most important changes are:
197 + NMUs are now explicitely allowed for all bugs, not just "serious bugs".
198 + It is recommended to use the DELAYED queue, and some example delays are
201 + Describe the process of acknowleding NMUs in a way that works
202 with the BTS's version-tracking. Closes: #480723.
203 + No longer mention that only DDs can do NMU. Don't make any
204 distinction. Closes: #464230.
205 + Switch to +nmu for NMU versioning. Closes: #437392.
206 + Mention nmudiff. Closes: #483227.
207 * Mention docbook-xml, and that debiandoc-sgml is deprecated. Thanks to
208 W. Martin Borgert for the patch. Closes: #485689.
209 * Fixed typo and example in the blurb about debug packages.
210 Thanks to Theppitak Karoonboonyanan for the patch.
212 * Update instructions on the delayed queue.
213 Thanks to Thijs Kinkhorst for the patch.
215 * Clarify wording about repackaged .orig.tar.gz.
216 Thanks to Cyril Brulebois for the patch.
218 * Improved README.contrib. Mention command to checkout the SVN
219 version. Thanks to Christine Spang for the patch.
221 * Document usertags. Thanks to Chris Lamb for the patch.
223 * Updated documentation on translation updates.
224 Thanks to Christian Perrier for the patch.
226 * Update instructions on handling of security issues.
227 Thanks to Thijs Kinkhorst for the patch.
228 Closes: #512620, #510783.
230 -- Lucas Nussbaum <lucas@lucas-nussbaum.net> Fri, 23 Jan 2009 09:57:54 +0100
232 developers-reference (3.4.0) unstable; urgency=low
235 * Update Vcs-* fields after DDP's SVN restructuring. Closes: #483428.
236 * Fix conditions for updates from unstable to testing. Closes: #470754.
237 * linda has been removed. Remove section A.2.2. Closes: #483242.
238 * Co-maintainers are listed in the Uploaders field. Closes: #483230.
239 * Collaborative Maintenance: the 'global part' of debian/control
240 is the first paragraph, about the source package. Closes: #483231.
241 * debian-private archives are on master. Closes: #475531.
242 * Mention Debian Maintainers and the debian-maintainers package.
244 * README.contrib: document that short lines are preferred.
246 * build-rdeps allows to list reverse build-dependencies.
249 [ Marc 'HE' Brockschmidt ]
250 * Replace abused <emphasis> tags with <literal> tags.
251 * In the same spirit, wrap all uses of stable/testing/unstable and
252 release codenames in <literal>
253 * Remove reference to upload queue on auric in section 5.6.5, auric
254 doesn't exist anymore.
255 * Fix several typesetting errors and typos noticed by Sandro Tosi,
256 thanks for the notes! Closes: #483223
257 * Update several bits about release management/testing transitions
258 and release-critical bugs. Closes: #483237, #456494
259 * Update and rewrite the porting guidelines in chapter 5, bringing
260 the dev-ref up to the state of porting in the year 2008. Also
261 fixes several wording issues, such as possible misunderstandings
262 about the need to rebuild uploads. Closes: #483226
263 * Update the instructions for uploads to the (old)stable
264 distributions. Emphasize the importance of contacting the SRM
265 team before upload. Closes: #459343
266 * Update instructions for package removal requests. Closes: #454216
267 * Clarify instructions for bug reassignment, emphasizing the
268 need to inform the maintainers you reassign the bug to. Also
269 hint to using cloned bugs to avoid re-reporting. Heavily based
270 on patch by Marc Haber - thanks for the work! Closes: #484806
271 * Clarify instructions for replacing/renaming binary packages,
272 pointing out that using Provides is sometimes advisable. Closes:
274 * Update description of the madison tool (by replacing it with a
275 description of the dak ls tool). Update the example while we're
277 * Update explanation of best practice for closing bugs, seems to
278 have been forgotten when everything was upgraded to use
279 debbugs version-tracking. Closes: #485969
280 * Clarify ITP instructions and emphasize our wish that people send
281 ITPs, explaining a few of the reasons. Thanks for the note,
282 Thomas. Closes: #485837
284 + Update Uploaders to include Lucas, Raphael and me.
285 + Bump Standards-Version to 3.8.0. No changes needed!
287 -- Lucas Nussbaum <lucas@lucas-nussbaum.net> Fri, 13 Jun 2008 13:45:49 +0200
289 developers-reference (3.3.9) unstable; urgency=low
293 - bump standards-version to 3.7.3 (no change)
294 - fix debian/copyright
295 - move debhelper to Build-Depends.
296 - add pdf for French version.
297 * Document changes to stable release management. Closes: #414291
298 * Debconf error templates no longer discouraged. Thanks,
299 Christian Perrier. Closes: #427832
300 * Keyring now uses RT. Closes: #428846
301 * Document -dbg-packages within BPs. Thanks, Joey Hess. Closes: #420540
302 * NMUs now also close bugs. Thanks, Lucas Nussbaum. Closes: #419507
303 * Fix documentation about gender neutral. Closes: #384178
304 * Fix typo. Closes: #405453
305 * More details on how to write documentation. Thanks, Josh Triplett.
307 * Add XS-Vcs-*. Thanks to Stefano Zacchiroli. Closes: #391023
308 * Small brushup to debconf description. Thanks, Thomas Huriaux.
310 * Document Team-Maintainence better. Thanks, Lucas Nussbaum.
312 * Add link to more removal ressources. Thanks, Adam D. Barratt,
313 Justin Pryzby. Closes: #412757, #356720
314 * Repacking source packages need to be documented in copyright.
315 Thanks, Russ Allbery. Closes: #413320
316 * Better describe version of debian native packages NMUs. Closes: #405818
317 * Source, HTML and text are now encoded in UTF-8. Thanks, Jörg Sommer.
319 * Source is now DocBook XML instead of debiandoc. Closes: #374220
322 * Add a link to enrico's excellent Debian Community Guidelines.
323 * Recommend the use of DSA's request tracker instead of mailing them.
324 * Remove reference to #debian-sf, #debian-bsd which don't exist anymore. Put
325 a reference to #debian-dpkg instead.
326 * Remove all stuff concerning non-US.
327 * Update information concerning Alioth.
328 * Update information concerning the Package Tracking System.
329 * Mention Alioth as the main resource for VCS repositories and deprecate
331 * Remove XS- prefix for Vcs-* fields since dpkg now supports them.
332 * Document the Homepage field. Thanks, Christian Perrier. Closes:
334 * Add Vcs-Svn and Vcs-Browser fields pointing to the new SVN
337 -- W. Martin Borgert <debacle@debian.org> Thu, 28 Feb 2008 10:16:40 +0000
339 developers-reference (3.3.8) unstable; urgency=low
341 * mia-history is replaced by mia-query. Thanks, Christoph Berg.
343 * fix missing quite. Thanks, Frank Küster. Closes: #365994
344 * use gnugp instead of gpg. Thanks, Justin Pryzby, Jon Dowland.
346 * better destinction between maintainer and developer. Thanks for
347 the suggestion to Colin Tuckley. Closes: #380458
348 * irc.d.o points to oftc. Thanks, Christoph Biedl, Jon Dowland.
350 * Bugs are now always closed thanks to version tracking.
351 Closes: #339552, #353447, #376199
352 * Clarify what "a conflicts b" means in testing migration.
354 * Packages in testing disappear if they're removed from unstable.
355 Thanks, Frank Küster, Al Stone. Closes: #365993
356 * Document only the most recent changelog entry is used. Thanks
357 to Kevin Glynn to the suggestion. Closes: #374738
358 * Add more tools for reverse depends. Close: #376582
359 * delayed-queue on gluck is uploaded more often now. Closes: #397907
360 * stop using capitals, minor fixes, language fixes.
361 Thanks, Thijs Kinkhorst, Colin Tuckley, Russ Allbery.
362 Closes: #368046, #378929, #361744
363 * add CVE Ids to your changelog. Closes: #376961
364 * add reasoning why debconf questions shouldn't be longer than
365 20 lines. Thanks, Thijs Kinkhorst, Christian Perrier, Russ Allbery.
367 * section changing needs re-uploading orig.tar.gz.
368 Thanks, Adam D. Barratt. Closes: #387154
369 * binary files in diffs could be en/decoded with perl.
370 Thanks, Frank Küster. Closes: #397786
371 * Add pointer to new-reject-FAQ. Closes: #324967
372 * Hint to dd-list/whodepends. Closes: #353874
373 * Don't use too generic mail ids. Closes: #355725
374 * pts/summary is actually used. Thanks, Holger Levsen. Closes: #387108
375 * clarify that one should append the NMU-diff to a bug. Closes: #394033
376 * more detailed instructions on binary package removals.
380 - French translation updated to version 3.3.8
382 -- Andreas Barth <aba@not.so.argh.org> Sat, 11 Nov 2006 10:55:44 -0700
384 developers-reference (3.3.7) unstable; urgency=low
387 - adjust information about distributions with reality.
388 - add note on alioth accounts. Thanks, Phillip Kern. Closes: #306630
389 - correct manpage section of dpkg-scanpackages. Closes: #297069
390 - fix RFC 2440 URL. Closes: #308103
391 - add $arch@buildd information. Closes: #295483
392 - link to keyring.d.o for key replacement. Thanks, Martin Michlmayr.
394 - add information about Packages-arch-specific. Thanks, Frank Küster.
396 - add hint about LWN subscription. Thanks, Martin Michlmayr.
398 - more about debconf-style translation. Thanks, Christian Perrier.
400 - non-us discontinued.
401 - document nmu changes wrt version tracking. Thanks, Justin Pryzby.
403 - fix spelling issues. Thanks to various people.
404 Closes: #336146, #326857, #338660
405 - update menu policy helpers. Thanks, Florian Ernst. Closes: #340024
406 - send mia-mail to mia@qa. Thanks, Adam D. Barratt. Closes: #341568
407 - Joerg Jaspert is now freenode contact. Closes: #344303
408 - give a clearer description of the gpg v4-key issues. Thanks,
409 Martin Michlmayr and Peter Palfrader. Closes: #317411
410 - more verbose about Homepage. Closes: #339826
411 - add sarge and etch. Closes: #327682
412 - document severity of RoM-request bugs. Closes: #305947
413 - update FSF address. Closes: #334820
414 - fix P-a-s link. Closes: #341195
415 - reflect binNMU changes. Closes: #349493
416 - new security upload queue. Closes: #352749
417 - fix experimental's sources.list entry. Closes: #347229
418 - remove deprecated "Closes:..." to ACK NMU bug fixes. Closes: #353447
419 - when resigning, gpg-sign your mail. Closes: #348160
420 - make pristine source and repackaged origtargz anchors work.
422 - same number of RC bugs is ok. Closes: #351944
423 - dpkg-source doesn't keep permissions. Thanks, Enrico Zini.
425 - also mention aspell. Closes: #320981
428 - French translation updated to version 3.3.7, proofread by Bernard Adrian
430 -- Andreas Barth <aba@not.so.argh.org> Sun, 09 Apr 2006 11:31:52 -0600
432 developers-reference (3.3.6) unstable; urgency=low
435 - closes: and NMUs/experimental uploads. Closes: #284714
436 - madison is on merkel.
437 - more gender-neutral. Closes: #290583, #290584, #263114
438 - explain current incoming. Closes: #290019
439 - remove broken sponsoring URL. Closes: #291698
440 - add handling hints about orig.tar.gz. Thanks, Frank. Closes: #278524
441 - duplicate bug reports should be merged. Closes: #285381
442 - if you're on vacation, please check whether someone needs keysigning.
444 - freenode has developer cloacks. Closes: #285687
445 - cleaned up uploaders / maintainer field
446 - explain how dak detects NMUs. Closes: #292354
447 - add "mass" to lots of bugs. Closes: #292946
448 - sync NM rules with reality.
450 - French translation updated to version 3.3.6
452 -- Andreas Barth <aba@not.so.argh.org> Sun, 23 Jan 2005 16:08:49 -0700
454 developers-reference (3.3.5) unstable; urgency=low
457 - uploads to more than one dist are not possible.
458 - updated upload queues. Closes: #235213
459 - updated URL of vanilla rules files. Closes: #237557, #252048
460 - please speak with stable RM before uploading to stable. Closes: #261464
461 - information on wnpp usage synced with wnpp. Closes: #255298
462 - spelling, grammer fixes.
463 Closes: #202444, #202499, #203202, #203378, #221902, #226208
464 - add hint about partitial key id. Closes: #243968
465 - spohr is restriced, and also ftp-master. Closes: #255814
466 - bpp: Hint about locale generation as non-root. Closes: #208021
467 - bpp: deborphan-compliant transition packages. Closes: #183654
468 - add myself to uploaders.
469 - add chapter about i10n. Closes: #208156
470 - add information about dchroot. Closes: #211845
471 - add information about NEWS.Debian. Closes: #212402
472 - add information about mia-database. Closes: #213961
473 - add link to debian-mentors FAQ.
474 - add verbose information about the package description. Closes: #214792
475 - add hint about -v<version> to experimental. Closes: #232930
476 - update information about yada. Closes: #217956
477 - urgency is sticky. Closes: #261914
478 - updated information about testing distribution. Closes: #266649.
479 - rewrote the NMU section, and
480 + made the possible severities of "target bugs" clearer. Closes: #233088.
481 + mention QA uploads. Closes: #202416.
482 + add -B for binNMUs, and local debsign usage. Closes: #208839.
483 + warning about breaking all-packages by binNMU. Closes: #213348.
484 - add information about gpg usage. Closes: #175815.
485 - make key replacement instructions more details. Closes: #275921
486 - typo and language fixes. Thanks, Era Eriksson. Closes: #277576
487 - add hints about debconf templates from Christian Perrier.
489 - Security uploads get urgency=high
490 - Be even more explicit about not uploading security updates
492 - French translation updated to version 3.3.5
494 -- Andreas Barth <aba@not.so.argh.org> Mon, 22 Nov 2004 19:07:26 +0100
496 developers-reference (3.3.4) unstable; urgency=low
499 - fixed language in the PTS section, prompted by a patch from
500 Romain FRANCOISE, thank you; closes: #197741
501 - updated the mailing lists section (again)
502 - documented Alioth, somewhat
504 - French translation updated to version 3.3.3 (more or less)
505 - proofread by Patrice Karatchentzeff
507 - Don't upload security updates directly to stable
508 - Always include an external reference in security changelog entries
509 - Be careful not to re-use a version number in security uploads
510 - More explicit instructions about what is appropriate for a security
514 - replace <!entity...> with <!ENTITY...> and other SGML hygenics
516 - Release this package as is to flush changes between June and now.
517 Yes, its been an age between releases here, for which I apologize.
518 Since CVS upstream for this package is back, I'm working on closing
519 bugs in this package now, I just wanted to get it out as is before I
522 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 29 Feb 2004 14:09:48 -0500
524 developers-reference (3.3.3) unstable; urgency=low
527 - corrections by Michel Grentzinger
529 - updated documentation concerning the PTS
530 - added a paragraph about the PTS web interface
531 - documented how to add custom news item in the PTS
533 - updates and clarifications to instructions for security bugs
534 - deprecate uploads to stable for security fixes, reference
535 section on security bugs; closes: #196516
536 - use dpkg-buildpackage -B to test binary-arch, not -b;
539 - Sec "Managing sponsored packages": remove unnecessary 'debsign' cmd;
541 - fix debconf-devel(7) man page section; closes: #189512
542 - Sec "Responding to bugs": mention what FTBFS means; closes: #186605
543 - Sec "Distribution directories" renamed "Distributions"
544 - Sec "The testing distribution" moved under Sec "Distribution
545 directories" and renamed "More information about the testing
547 - Secs "Uploads to {stable,testing-proposed-updates}" retitled to make
548 it clear these are special cases
549 - Sec "Uploading to ftp-master": xref to "Delayed incoming";
551 - check compliance with Policy version 3.5.10
553 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Mon, 16 Jun 2003 04:08:29 -0400
555 developers-reference (3.3.2) unstable; urgency=low
558 - French translation updated to version 3.3.1
559 - proofread by Philippe Batailler and Patrice Karatchentzeff
561 - French translation requires debiandoc-sgml 1.1.76 or better
563 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 18 Apr 2003 09:48:59 -0400
565 developers-reference (3.3.1) unstable; urgency=low
568 - package description said it contained French and Japanese, fixed,
570 - Sec "Experimental": sources.list entries
571 - Sec "Basic rules for [mailing list] use": cosmetic, link to this sec
572 - Sec "Handling bugs": retitle and expand section
574 - more improvements to package synopsis and description
575 - the synopsis formula changed to either
576 <package-name> is a <synopsis>
578 <package-name> is <synopsis>
580 <package-name> are <synopsis>
582 - the synopsis itself should not start with an article
583 - Sec "Best practices for debian/control": expand intro
584 - fix doc-check URL; closes: #187144
585 - Sec "Multiple binary packages": fix awkward wording about vim source
586 package; closes: #187143
588 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 4 Apr 2003 14:26:52 -0500
590 developers-reference (3.3) unstable; urgency=low
593 - French translation updated to version 3.2.2 (more or less)
594 - proofread by Philippe Batailler
596 - added "ddtp" keyword in the PTS documentation
598 - split out the doc-files per language, closes: #177448
599 - shuffled stuff around in the packages chapter
600 - added a section describing how to handle large amounts of
601 architecture-independent data bundled with programs
602 - added best practices on debian/changelog files, based on a patch
603 kindly provided by Daniel Kobras, closes: #166388
604 - described debdiff and dpkg-depcheck, and linked to them from the
605 right places in the document, closes: #172897
606 - describe the current practice in writing synopsis lines,
610 - convert to debhelper (compat mode 4); maintainer scripts no longer
612 - split -ja and -fr versions out into separate packages
613 - top-level makefile deletes targets on error; clean is cleaner
614 - replace the manual debian/control processing to show the document's
615 table of contents (TOC) with a new script 'debian/tocsubstvars';
616 note that the TOC displayed in the developers-reference-{fr,ja}
617 package descriptions are in English until UTF8 control files are
618 allowed; proper escaping of single quotes here requires newest
620 - editorial changes on material added in this version
621 - reorder "Best Packaging Practices" a bit
622 - rework "Best practices for debian/control" based on contributions
623 from Colin Walters, Branden Robinson, Sebastian Rittau and others;
624 closes: #139957, #108416
625 - primary author is developers-reference@packages.debian.org; remove
626 emails from other authors to prevent spam and confusion
628 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Mon, 24 Feb 2003 13:29:07 -0500
630 developers-reference (3.2.2) unstable; urgency=low
633 - slightly rewrote and updated links in the mirrors section
635 - Policy compliance checked and updated to 3.5.8, no changes needed
636 - TODO: remove some tasks which are done
637 - ship README-contrib and TODO in the doc dir
638 - Sec "Upstream home page": some revisions based on discussion on
640 - Sec "Documentation" added under Sec "Common packaging situations"
641 for best practices for documentation
642 - Add tools entries for autotools-dev, dpkg-repack, alien, debsums;
643 new Sec "Documentation and information", add entries there for
644 debview, debiandoc-sgml, debian-keyring; we believe this manual now
645 covers all of the established, general Debian maintainer tool
647 - spell-checking pass
649 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Thu, 12 Dec 2002 13:45:23 -0500
651 developers-reference (3.2.1) unstable; urgency=low
654 - Sec "Best practices for debian/control" added, Sec "Writing useful
655 descriptions" moved under there
656 - Sec "Upstream home page" added in debian/control section
657 - Sec "Miscellaneous advice" empty, removed
658 - Sec "Overview of maintainer tools": tools now categorized into
659 subgroups; do cross-linking from this section into other parts of
660 the document where these tools are discussed
661 - Sec "Overview of maintainer tools": add entries for sbuild,
662 build-essential, linda; improved entries for pbuilder, devscripts
663 - Sec "Tools for porters" renamed and readapted to "Porting
664 infrastructure and automation"; move tool discussion down to the
665 appendix; improve Sec "buildd" a bit
666 - README-contrib added giving information for authors, contributors,
668 - eliminate the ByHand stuff, I'm pretty sure it's not needed now
669 with the DDP builder process, or if it is needed, it's a probably
670 that can be fixed by DDP folks
671 - stop shipping SGML source -- use 'apt-get source developers-reference'
672 after all, this is supposed to be a binary package, right?
673 - simply PS and PDF building rules
675 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Mon, 9 Dec 2002 03:04:19 -0500
677 developers-reference (3.2) unstable; urgency=low
680 - merged a bit misplaced lintian-reports section within the lintian
681 section and adjusted links
682 - added the missing description of dh-make and adjusted links
684 - ChangeLog attribution updates
685 - fix typos, closes: #171781
686 - expand the doc-base abstract and authors
687 - Ch "Packaging Practices" rewritten intro
688 - Sec "Packaging tools and common cases" renamed to "Best Practices
689 for debian/rules", and write an intro
690 - Sec "Helper scripts" in practices section rewritten, giving
691 arguments for and against debhelper, mostly for :)
692 - Sec "Package with multiple patches" renamed to "Patching source
693 versus patching at build time" and rewritten
694 - Sec "Multiple binary packages" rewritten
695 - Sec "Handling debconf translations" moved under an
696 "Internationalization" section, and some edits
697 - Sec "Internationalized Documentation" added under Sec
698 "Internationalization"
699 - Sec "Specific packaging practices" renamed to "Common packaging situations"
700 - Sec "Packages using autoconf/automake" rewritten
701 - Sec "Configuration management" moved forward in practices chapter
702 - Sec "Other specific packages" renamed to "Specific types of
703 packages", add info for SGML/XML and Lisp packages
704 - Sec "Writing useful descriptions" heavily edited
705 - Sec "Best practices for maintainer scripts" added, special credit
706 here to Charles Briscoe-Smith for work dating back to 1998; include
707 a POSIX shell snippet showing how to check if a command is the PATH,
709 - Apdx "Overview of Debian Maintainer Tools": remove debget, it's
710 rather useless and broken
711 - normalize up-casing on sections, which should only up-case proper
712 names and the first word
713 - new 'translation-status' script to check status of translations,
714 adapted from doc-check in boot-floppies, source pkg only --
715 oh my, French translation is 54 CVS revisions behind, and Japanese
717 - postinst: don't set /usr/doc symlink, aesthetics
718 - prerm: don't use 'command -v', it's not POSIX
719 - rules: produce md5sums file; break out a 'test' target
721 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sat, 7 Dec 2002 02:28:06 -0500
723 developers-reference (3.1.2) unstable; urgency=low
726 - DDP publishing update
728 - doc-base file includes French and Japanese files
729 - debsign invocation was slightly wrong, closes: #170523
730 - Sec "Handling debconf translations", updates from Martin Quinson
731 for po-debconf with minimal editorial changes, closes: #169007
733 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Wed, 27 Nov 2002 21:16:30 -0500
735 developers-reference (3.1.1) unstable; urgency=low
738 - updated IRC stuff, thanks to Ben Armstrong, closes: #161403
739 - fixed/updated/extended stuff about bugs, hoping to address the
740 issue of people abusing the changelog bug closing feature
742 - added myself as co-author
743 - fix a typo in Sec "Collaborative maintenance", closes: #161488
745 - updated security information, merging in Joey's stuff from the
746 Security Team FAQ and various updates and clarifications
748 - fix some bad URLs, closes: #168357
749 - fix a grammar typo, closes: #166098
751 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Tue, 12 Nov 2002 23:15:03 -0500
753 developers-reference (3.1) unstable; urgency=low
756 - Corrected several errors with —
757 - Applied patch from Peter Palfrader, correcting
758 the URL for the Debian Voting Information page. closes: #150427
759 - Applied patch from Matej Vela, dpkg-buildpackage does no more
760 require -sa for version -0.1. closes: #150861
761 - Applied the reformulations proposed by David Kimdon. closes: #150572
762 - Applied the patch of Matt Zimmerman. Thanks Matt! closes: #145287
763 - Added the explanation about how to replace an .orig.tar.gz.
765 - Mostly deleted the paragraph about security upload in the
766 section explaining source NMU. Just added a link to point to
767 "Handling security-related bugs". closes: #159935
768 - Added a link to the Technical Committee web page (in the "Bug
769 housekeeping" section). closes: #151365
770 - Explain uploads to testing-proposed-updates, mentions briefly
771 stable-security and testing-security. closes: #149666
772 Removed the comment about uploads to frozen.
773 - Documented the "Developer's packages overview" web portal.
775 - Added a reference to debian-l10n-english in "Writing useful
776 descriptions". closes: #158609
777 - Added a Best Packaging Practice section for "Packages using
778 autoconf/automake". closes: #158045
779 - Documented associated features to db.debian.org like SSH key
780 replication and *.debian.net DNS entry. closes: #155389
781 - Added a section about "Bug Squashing Parties".
783 - removed obsolete, needless dupload variables
784 - applied linguistic fixes from David Kimdon, closes: #150572
785 - random proofreading, mostly changing he -> they
786 - added people.d.o and non-us.d.o to the Debian servers section, and
787 mostly rewrote it to exclude real machine names and be better organized
788 - updated the mailing lists section
790 - debian/changelog: remove obsolete Emacs variables
791 - editorial review of the changes above, minor tagging changes,
794 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Tue, 10 Sep 2002 21:57:41 -0400
796 developers-reference (3.0) unstable; urgency=low
799 - welcome Manoj Srivastava as a co-maintainer
800 - welcome Raphael Hertzog as a co-maintainer
802 - new Chapter "Resource for Debian Developers", incorporating
804 Ch "Mailing Lists, Servers, and Other Machines"
805 Ch "The Debian Archive"
807 - new Chapter "Managing Packages", incorporating former chapters
809 Ch "Non-Maintainer Uploads (NMUs)"
810 Ch "Porting and Being Ported"
811 Ch "Moving, Removing, Renaming, Adopting, and Orphaning Packages"
812 Ch "Handling Bugs" (retitled "Handling package bugs")
813 Sec "Bug housekeeping" (new section, some parts stubbed out)
815 - new Chapter "Beyond Packaging" recommends ways to contribute
816 to Debian beyond issues of package maintenance; incoporates
817 Ch "Interaction with Prospective Developers", retitled to
818 Sec "Interacting with Prospective Debian Developers"
819 Sec "Submitting Bugs", renamed to "Reporting Bugs"
820 Sec "QA" moved here from old Sec "Quality Assurance effort"
821 Sec "Dealing with unreachable maintainers"
823 - Sec "The Developers Database" added under Resources
824 - new Sec "Collaborative Maintenance" concerning multiple maintainers
827 - Sec "Getting started": add link to New Maintainers' Guide
828 - Sec "Debian Mentors" renamed to "Debian Mentors and Sponsors",
829 we add some info on sponsoring; also in Sec "Sponsoring packages"
830 - Section's first word capitalized, rest are normal case
831 - purge a reference to the Packaging Manual; closes: #145039
832 - misc. cross-referencing with new or moved sections
833 - change some literal quotes to ‘, ”, etc.
834 - tagging improvements: replace <tt> with <file> for files and
835 directories; since <tt><var> and <example><var> doesn't look right,
836 work-around with <...>
837 - entity'ize master.debian.org, us-upload-dir, non-us-upload-dir
838 - update copyright date
839 - some simplifications on the TeX suffix rule
840 - spell check and grammar corrections
844 - changed -e by -m in the dpkg-buildpackage command line example;
846 - clarify wording between "porter upload", "binary-only NMU", "simple
847 recompile"; closes: #102626
848 - extended "removing a package"; closes: #135560
849 - Ch "Best Packaging Practices": new chapter, including new
850 Sec "Writing useful descriptions" as a first entry in that
851 chapter; closes: #53109, #129848
852 - indicate that the list of subsections is defined in the policy;
854 - removed some cruft in `Announcing package uploads'
855 - document the testing scripts; closes: #129445
856 - explain how to reassign/close bugs of removed packages;
858 - updates the note about software subject to US patents;
860 - new Section "Contacting other maintainers" under "Beyond packaging"
861 Document the package@packages.debian.org alias; closes: #114553
862 - new Section "Package's information" under Resources
863 Document http://packages.debian.org/<package>,
864 http://bugs.debian.org/<package> and the madison utility
865 - Sec "Reporting bugs": added http://bugs.debian.org/from:email@isp.com
866 - Sec "Handling bugs": added http://bugs.debian.org/login@debian.org
867 - Sec "The Incoming system" in "Resources", describe how it works and
868 also speak of the DELAYED directory; closes: #135562, #136774
870 - Sec "Developer Database": added a sentence about finger
872 - update the total number of packages and the example directory tree
874 - updated the list of available architectures.
875 - commented out the "Subsections" section since it will RSN have nothing
876 to with the Debian archive. It's just a generic information field
877 of the package and nothing more.
878 - added more incentive to use experimental since it doesn't cause
879 any pain to the ftpmasters.
880 - Sec "When to do a source NMU": updated the NMU "protocol" and suggest
881 the use of the delayed queue.
882 - new Section "Acknowledging the NMUs" to explain the need to integrate
883 the changes introduced by NMUs. Insists on the fact that one shouldn't
885 - stubbed in new Section "Collaborative maintenance"
886 - stubbed in new Section "The Package Tracking System"
887 - Sec "The Package Tracking System": filled with content from
888 Francesco Paolo Lovergine, heavily updated by myself
889 - new Section "Managing sponsored packages" contributed by
890 Francesco Paolo Lovergine, slightly updated by myself
891 - new Sec "Bug housekeeping"; closes: #39519
893 - new Sec "Documentation"
894 - added Sec "IRC channels" in the Resources chapter
895 - added Sec "pbuilder" in the appendix. Mention it in the section
896 "Being kind to porter" too
897 - extended Sec "devscripts" with info about "bts" and "uscan"
898 - completed Sec "Helper scripts"
899 - completed Sec "Package with multiple patches",
900 "Multiple binary packages", "Libraries", "Other specific packages",
901 "The wise use of debconf" -- all those are quite simplistic, they
903 - integrated Sec "Handling debconf translations" contributed by
904 Denis Barbier -- thanks, Denis!
907 - update French translation
909 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 14 Jun 2002 01:18:19 -0400
911 developers-reference (2.11) unstable; urgency=low
914 - some grammar corrections
915 - update French translation
917 - changes in upload situation, not possible to remove from Incoming
918 anymore; closes: #135559
919 - also talk about dput a tiny bit
921 - Ch "Overview of Debian Maintainer Tools":
923 - Charles Briscoe-Smith deprecates yada (I think new maintainers of
924 that would be welcome)
925 - debconf-doc mentioned for debconf
926 - debhelper: don't talk about debmake; mention how to get info on the dh-* pkgs
927 - dput: new section, closes: #129378
928 - debootstrap: new section, closes: #129377
929 - dpkg-dev-el: new section
930 - other minor wording changes
931 - Sec "Mailing Lists": where to find private archives, closes: #96780
932 - Ch "Package uploads":
933 - new Sec "Adding an entry to debian/changelog"
934 - rename Sec "Announcing new packages" to "New packages"
935 - crypto is in main, non-US is for patent restrictions, so:
936 - excise some text from "Registering as a Debian developer"
937 - changes in Sec "Uploading to ftp-master"
938 - changes in Sec "Uploading to non-US"
939 * old bugs closed out, closes: #110573
941 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 7 Apr 2002 23:34:08 -0700
943 developers-reference (2.10.0) unstable; urgency=low
945 * from Martin Michlmayr
946 - update the "Applying to Become a New Maintainer" section, with
947 review by Raphael Hertzog, closes: #133965
948 - bugs closed in NMUs should uses 'closes' changelog entries,
950 - developers are not required to subscribe to debian-private
952 - some suggestions on places to use the proper term, Debian GNU/Linux,
954 - fix some typos, closes: #133956
956 - frozen doesn't exist anymore, just testing; note, however, that
957 there is a way to upload to 'woody-proposed-updates' -- if I can
958 find some description of that, I'll document it; closes: #133948
961 - isolate a few more language-independent bits
963 - change /usr/doc to /usr/share/doc, and typo in debian/copyright,
966 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 24 Feb 2002 14:46:46 -0500
968 developers-reference (2.9.0) unstable; urgency=low
971 - created a new subsection about uploading to stable, and elaborated
973 - removed a stray sentence about stable from the paragraph about
974 security uploads (which apply to all distributions equally)
975 - replaced the nonexistent term "Security Manager" with "security officer"
976 - uploading to stable and unstable is deprecated; updated the section
977 about the experimental distribution; other fixes in the section
978 talking about uploading to distributions
979 - better organize some subsections in the section about package uploads
980 - replaced some bogus <ftppath>s with <tt>s
981 - noted how there is an upload queue on pandora, too
983 - French translation updated
985 - normalize '--' as — for prettier output
986 - integrate changes from James Troup, part of #102626
987 - typo fix thanks to Mark Hodge
989 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 21 Oct 2001 01:03:01 -0400
991 developers-reference (2.8.8) unstable; urgency=low
994 - a few more strong words about sponsoring
995 - started a new chapter about the relationship between old and new
998 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 20 Jul 2001 17:53:47 -0400
1000 developers-reference (2.8.7) unstable; urgency=low
1003 * fix a typo in a link
1004 * dpkg-buildpackage -m<addr> flag was changed for -e<addr> when NMU'ing;
1005 update documentation accordingly
1007 * Matt Zimmerman fixes up some wording in the section talking about
1008 forwarding bugs upstream
1010 * provide proper l10n for SGML date entities; now we have &date-<LANG>
1011 entities which should be used
1012 * debian/rules: fixes for new debiandoc-sgml
1013 * debian/control: depend on debiandoc-sgml 1.1.48 or better
1015 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Thu, 21 Jun 2001 14:43:42 -0400
1017 developers-reference (2.8.6) unstable; urgency=low
1019 * fix a typo, thanks to Antoine Hulin
1020 * French version: completely up-to-date now
1021 * Makefile: add a 'validate' target
1022 * prepare and ship "upstream" ChangeLog; move the debian changelog to
1024 * all versions: change the email address to use when orphaning
1027 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 13 Apr 2001 03:32:08 -0400
1029 developers-reference (2.8.5) unstable; urgency=low
1031 * expunge references to the Debian Packaging Manual, which is now in the
1033 * Japanese version: also comment out some references packaging manual;
1034 this translation needs updating
1035 * deny request to shut down non-maintainer bug maintenance bug closure
1036 practices (closes: Bug#88623)
1037 * add some advice about U.S. citizens uploading to non-US
1039 * debian/control: Build-Depends should have been Build-Depends-Indep
1040 * French version: First complete translation of the Debian developer's
1041 reference guide. Much work done by Antoine Hulin. Reviewed by Nicolas
1043 * Portuguese version: work is started by Carlos Laviola, nothing
1044 included yet, however
1046 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 8 Apr 2001 01:25:51 -0400
1048 developers-reference (2.8.4) unstable; urgency=low
1050 * debian/control: remove reference to obsolete packaging-manual package
1052 * debian/control: fill in the description a bit more
1053 * doc-base: index.html corrected to be index.en.html
1055 * Makefile: clean is cleaner
1057 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 25 Feb 2001 12:47:06 -0500
1059 developers-reference (2.8.3) unstable; urgency=low
1061 * build and provide French and Japanese versions
1062 * devolve build logic from debian/rules to top-level Makefile
1063 * developers-reference.jp.sgml: minor changes so it will build (is out
1065 * debian/rules: stop making useless /usr/share/developers-reference dir
1067 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Mon, 22 Jan 2001 02:02:02 -0500
1069 developers-reference (2.8.2) unstable; urgency=low
1072 - fix typographic errors reported by David Martinez (closes: Bug#80740)
1073 - common.ent: upped the numbers a little bit, updated lintian reports URL
1074 - updated regarding va->klecker move, and www->people move, changed
1075 most mentions of dinstall to a generic term "archive maintenance
1076 software", removed full path to it because it is in PATH now,
1077 mentioned "dak" and "katie" (somewhat vaguely), changed week to
1078 month regarding FTP archive waiting time since that\'s more often
1079 the case, and changed weeks to hours regarding Maintainers file
1080 updates since that\'s also more often the case now, updated some
1081 URLs to entities, s/debian-doc/doc-debian/
1082 - replaced evil latin1-only quotation marks, replaced mentions of
1083 important severity (in RCB context) with serious severity, some
1085 - common.ent (1.10): fixed email-debian-user alias; updated
1086 sample-dist-dirtree (with more to come)
1087 - described testing; described package pools (this particular part
1088 required quite a bit of changes, and it might be a bit rough, but
1089 it's a start); described the frozen test cycles et al; some other
1091 - another update WRT sid/unstable/testing, from Colin Watson
1093 * debian/control: add Recommends for debian-policy, packaging-manual
1094 * update copyright notice for 2001
1095 * fix for WNPP bug filing severities from David Schleef
1096 * clarify the status of the Developers's reference as "normative"
1097 * add a reference to debconf (closes: Bug#82413)
1099 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 21 Jan 2001 18:10:21 -0500
1101 developers-reference (2.8.1) unstable; urgency=low
1103 * update WNPP instructions, based on patch from Marcelo E. Magallon
1105 * spelling corrections, awkward grammar suggestions from Andreas Krueger
1107 * debian/rules: remove some obsolete source-depends stuff
1109 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sat, 4 Nov 2000 13:22:21 -0500
1111 developers-reference (2.8.0) unstable; urgency=low
1113 * Almost all changes for this release are from Josip Rodin
1114 <joy@debian.org>. Thanks, Josip!
1116 * debian/control, postinst, prerm, rules: Policy 3.2.1 (closes:
1117 Bug#68929, Bug#70384)
1118 * fixed bug closing example (closes: Bug#71198)
1119 * update the perl regexp from current /usr/lib/dpkg/parsechangelog/debian
1120 * updated keyring/keyserver information (closes: Bug#67783)
1121 * updated new-maintainer stuff (closes: Bug#67841)
1122 * updated for master -> ftp-master move (closes: Bug#68369)
1123 * noted www.d.o is the right host for web pages, but all other machines
1124 could be used if necessary
1125 * reorder mentions of scp to come before FTP, as it is more secure;
1126 mention the rsync dupload method
1127 * reorder mentions of pandora <-> non-us, canonical name non-us is
1129 * other small corrections
1130 * fixed orphaning/adopting instructions with regard to the new WNPP
1131 * common.ent: fix urls for cvs.d.o, wnpp, Debian machines page,
1132 lists-archives, www.d.o BTS
1133 * common.ent: changed link for machines from devel/maintainer_contacts
1135 * Makefile: remove unnecessary subshell
1137 * Adam's change: update debian/copyright for new Policy, and put my name
1138 in there a bit with updated years; update doc-base file for FHS
1140 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 15 Oct 2000 03:25:21 -0400
1142 developers-reference (2.7.2) frozen unstable; urgency=medium
1144 * I believe this should go into frozen because (a) it's only
1145 documentation, so it can't introduce RC bugs, and (b) it fixes an
1146 error which prevented it from building properly; however, whatever
1147 ftpmaster feels is best is fine
1149 * include common.ent as well as version.ent
1150 (closes: Bug#52582, Bug#48926)
1151 * debian/rules: fix build error caused by newer debiandoc-sgml; remove
1152 constitution.en.html, since that is now located in the doc-debian
1153 package (closes: Bug#54778, Bug#42014); don't compress .pdf file
1155 * All changes below from Raphael Hertzog <hertzog@debian.org>
1157 * Sec. "Uploading to master" and "Uploading to pandora":
1158 explained dinstall -n (closes: Bug#45079)
1159 * Sec. "Picking a distribution": added reference to the debian-release
1160 team (closes: Bug#52906)
1161 * Sec. "Announcing package uploads": rewrote it to take care of the fact
1162 that dinstall is doing it automatically (closes: Bug#43877)
1163 * Sec. "Mailing lists": added a paragraph about debian-email
1165 * Changed the "Maintaining Your Debian Information" into "Debian
1166 Developer's Duties" (closes: Bug#28908)
1167 - added a section about the LDAP database
1168 - added a section about the "on vacation" message
1169 - added a section about the coordination with upstream developers
1171 - added a section about managing Release Critical bugs
1172 - added a section about Quality Assurance effort
1174 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 16 Apr 2000 23:24:33 -0400
1176 developers-reference (2.7.1) unstable; urgency=low
1178 * Sec. "Registering as a Debian developer": we are transitioning away
1179 from non-free PGP -- remove allusions to non-free software such as
1180 PGPv2 or v5 insofar as possible; recommend use of DSS keys rather than
1182 * Sec. "Maintaining Your Public Key": remove PGP-centric stuff
1183 * Sec. "When bugs are closed by new uploads": describe how to close bugs
1184 via a magic changelog entry (closes: Bug#43690)
1185 * Sec. "Generating the changes file": refer to Sec. "When bugs are
1186 closed by new uploads" for closing bugs via a changelog entry
1187 * developers-reference.sgml: re-enable RCS variables in CVS sources
1188 * debian/control,rules: dynamically generate the TOC in the package
1189 description from developers-reference.sgml
1191 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 12 Sep 1999 18:15:59 -0400
1193 developers-reference (2.7.0) unstable; urgency=low
1195 * developers-reference.sgml: separated out language-independant elements
1196 into common.ent (not content changes); misc minor grammar changes
1198 * doc-base: change section for *constitution* to Debian (not 'debian')
1200 * Sec. "Stable, unstable, and sometimes frozen": mention how old stable
1201 releases are available at archive.debian.org
1202 * Sec. "Uploading to pandora (non-us)" added, remove stale
1203 information about the old anonymous ftp area (closes Bug#39541);
1204 Sec. "Other Upload Queues" added about that upload queues, added
1205 samosa and master.debian.org.jp (closes Bug#37804)
1206 * Sec. "Yada": mention that yada might not be as robust as other package
1207 producing systems, at request of the author; Sec. "equivs" added
1208 * Sec. "Moving packages": at the request of Guy Maor, clarify that this
1209 procedure is for moving packages in sections (i.e., free, contrib)
1211 * Sec. "Registering as a Debian developer": talk about RSA keys rather
1212 than PGP keys, since I think GPG can create/handle them now; mention
1213 that the official pkg maintainer address much match an ID on your key;
1214 * Sec. "Maintaining Your Public Key": beef up the warnings a bit; point
1216 * Sec. "Mailing Lists, Servers, and Other Machines": clean up and
1217 clarify section; mention that all developers are expected to be
1218 subscribed to debian-private and debian-devel-announce
1219 * Sec. "Other Debian Machines": remove list of machines; point to
1220 http://www.debian.org/devel/machines instead
1221 * Sec. "Release code names": potato is 2.2
1222 * Sec. "Guidelines for Porter Uploads": talk about recompile only
1223 uploads and version numbers for this (i.e., foo_2.4-1.0.1), from a
1224 suggestion from James Troup
1225 * Sec. "buildd": mention andrea, and buildd.debian.org
1226 * Sec. "Removing packages": correct apt-cache usage
1227 * debain/rules: update standards to 3.0.1 -- since I'm not moving
1228 /usr/doc to /usr/share/doc yet, no changes were required except in the
1231 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Mon, 16 Aug 1999 23:29:45 -0400
1233 developers-reference (2.6.8) unstable; urgency=low
1235 * when applying as a new user, the login name can be *eight* characters,
1236 not seven (thanks to Rafael Caetano dos Santos)
1238 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 21 May 1999 21:50:04 -0400
1240 developers-reference (2.6.7) unstable; urgency=low
1242 * SGML'ish: normalize SGML elements, refill paragraphs (closes Bug#37987)
1243 * doc-base: change section to Debian -- hmm, this looks like a doc-base
1244 bug, really, but hey, who am I to refile bugs to another one of my own
1245 packages? (closes Bug#37392)
1246 * Ch. "Overview of Debian Maintainer Tools": new section for yada (um,
1247 someone who uses this should check my description), correct build ->
1248 debuild in the devscripts section (closes Bug#38053)
1250 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 21 May 1999 01:41:45 -0400
1252 developers-reference (2.6.6) unstable; urgency=low
1254 * Sec. "The master server": note that problems on Debian ftp can be sent
1255 to ftpmaster@debian.org also
1256 * Secs. "Uploads via chiark" and "Uploads via erlangen": remove
1257 'cron-driven' (thanks Roman Hodek)
1258 * Sec. "Being Kind to Porters": typos corrected, note that binary-arch
1259 and binary-indep targets should work independantly (thanks Roman
1261 * Sec. "buildd": remove erroneous reference to debbuild, reorganize the
1262 section and correct typos (thank again Roman -- boy, this is the all
1264 * debian/rules: re-enable letter-sized PDFs
1266 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 9 May 1999 01:17:29 -0400
1268 developers-reference (2.6.5) unstable; urgency=low
1270 * Sec. "Architectures": correction on supported architecture in Linux
1272 * Sec. "Experimental": other reasons to use or not use the experiment
1273 archive "section", from comments by Guy Maor
1274 * Sec. "Being Kind to Porters": replace x86 with i386 (closes Bug#36485)
1275 * debian/rules: date printing protected from local l10n (closes Bug#36891)
1276 * Ch. "Mailing Lists, Servers, and Other Machines": renamed chapter; add
1278 * Sec. "Debian Servers": new, for talking about the standard servers,
1279 with intro; demoted server sections under that
1280 * Sec. "The FTP servers": was empty, removed
1281 * Sec. "The master server": fill in more info and cross-refs on how to
1283 * Sec. "The CVS server": add some more detail which should be included
1284 when requesting cvs areas; mention the cvsweb URL
1285 * Sec. "Other Debian Machines": new section, list the machines for which
1286 a normal developer may have access.
1288 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Tue, 4 May 1999 03:32:21 -0400
1290 developers-reference (2.6.4) unstable; urgency=low
1292 * debian/rules: hack 'byhand' file entries to include debian version
1293 number in it, so subsequent uploads of the package into Incoming don't
1294 step all over each other
1296 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 9 Apr 1999 20:04:04 -0400
1298 developers-reference (2.6.3) unstable; urgency=low
1300 * correction from James Troup -- <keyring-maint> is indeed the correct
1301 address for PGP key updates
1303 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 4 Apr 1999 13:28:58 -0400
1305 developers-reference (2.6.2) unstable; urgency=low
1307 * Sec. "fakeroot": libtricks is not replacing anything after all
1308 * developers-reference.sgml: use public declaration
1309 * BTW, if any maintainers of translated versions of this document would
1310 like to talk to me about folding your version into the
1311 developers-reference CVS area, please get in touch with me
1313 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 4 Apr 1999 04:42:29 -0400
1315 developers-reference (2.6.1) unstable; urgency=low
1317 * include Debian constitution (closes Bug#30694)
1318 * Sec. "fakeroot": libtricks is replacing fakeroot, not libtool
1319 * Sec. "Maintaining Your Public Key" -- give email addresses as
1320 {pgp,gpg}-update@debian.org, at James Troup's request (note to Jameas,
1321 if you see this: /usr/doc/debian-keyring/README.gz talks about
1322 <keyring-maint> instead)
1323 * Ch. "Overview of Debian Maintainer Tools" -- add Sec. "debget"
1324 * developers-reference.sgml: minor typo correction from Tril
1326 * doc-base stuff: add abstract to developers-reference, new file for
1328 * debian/rules: minor cleanup and consistency; build PDF, not PS file;
1329 ship PDF file;.text file now has .txt extension
1330 * debian/control: set priority to optional, matching archive
1332 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sat, 3 Apr 1999 17:17:06 -0500
1334 developers-reference (2.6.0) frozen unstable; urgency=low
1336 * would be nice to sneak this into slink; it's just documentation!
1337 * Ch. "Porting and Being Ported": porter information broken out into it's
1338 own chapter, Sec. "Guidelines for Porter Uploads" and "When to do a
1339 source NMU if you are a porter" moved to this chapter; porter tool
1340 descriptions such as 'quinn-diff' moved to this section. Sec. "Being
1341 Kind to Porters" added, with tips for how to avoid making problems for
1343 * Ch. "Non-Maintainer Uploads (NMUs)": update for the new chapter, and
1344 tighten up the language a bit
1345 * Sec. "Monitoring bugs": add a little cron job to get an 'index maint'
1346 of outstanding bugs (closes Bug#31259), loosen language a tiny bit
1347 w.r.t. non-maintainers or submitters closing bugs (closes Bug#30394)
1348 * Sec. "Scope of This Document": point out that this file is not
1350 * Ch. "Handling Bugs": renamed from "Handling Bug Reports", incorporate
1351 some suggestions from James Troup, namely, don't mail from your root
1352 account, don't close bugs via control@bugs.debian.org; break out new
1353 sections, "Submitting Bugs" and "Responding to Bugs"
1354 * Ch. "Overview of Debian Maintainer Tools": remove attribution for
1355 package maintainers, since I can't keep up; add entries for fakeroot
1357 * Ch. "Maintaining Your Debian Information": new chapter, quite small
1358 right now; it mentions keyring-maint@debian.org for key modification,
1359 warns against putting private keys on multi-user machines, and talks
1360 about how to depart Debian gracefully
1361 * typo correction from Christian Hudon (closes Bug#32052)
1362 * menu file removed, obsoleted by doc-base file
1363 * parameterize some often-changing values with SGML entities, update
1364 number of available packages
1365 * use new way of notating multiple copyrights
1366 * change <tt> elements to <file> where appropriate
1368 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Thu, 11 Feb 1999 02:53:55 -0500
1370 developers-reference (2.5.0.5) unstable; urgency=low
1372 * add version.ent to docdir, needed to reconstruct from SGML
1375 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Tue, 29 Dec 1998 02:42:50 -0500
1377 developers-reference (2.5.0.4) unstable; urgency=low
1379 * not officially released
1380 * more spelling corrections
1381 * s/ppc/powerpc/ (thanks, James Troup)
1383 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 18 Dec 1998 00:07:40 -0500
1385 developers-reference (2.5.0.3) unstable; urgency=low
1387 * not officially released
1388 * Sec. "Removing a package from Incoming": tiny section added
1389 * some PGP-centricity removed
1390 * Sec. "Adopting a package": point out that hijacking packages is not ok
1391 * Ch. "Non-Maintainer Uploads (NMUs) and Porters": change 'NMU' to
1392 'source NMU', 'port' to 'binary NMU', shorten the window for porters a
1393 tad; fix spelling; stress that non-maintainer patches must be
1394 non-disruptive and that aesthetic issues are not suitable for fixing
1395 by non-maintainers; other fixes as suggested by interested parties
1397 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Wed, 25 Nov 1998 00:01:27 -0500
1399 developers-reference (2.5.0.2) frozen unstable; urgency=low
1401 * not officially released
1402 * maintainer name change (but it's still me)
1403 * Ch. "Non-Maintainer Uploads (NMUs) and Porters": new chapter
1404 discussing NMUs and porters; Section "Interim Releases" integrated out
1405 of existance. New TOC for this section is:
1406 * 6 Non-Maintainer Uploads (NMUs) and Porters
1407 + 6.1 Who can do a port or an NMU
1408 + 6.2 When to do a port or an NMU
1409 o 6.2.1 When to do an NMU if you are a porter
1410 + 6.3 How to do an NMU
1411 o 6.3.1 NMU version numbering
1412 o 6.3.2 NMUs must create a changelog entry
1413 o 6.3.3 NMUs must send patches, if any, to the BTS
1414 o 6.3.4 Building the NMU
1415 + 6.4 Guidelines for Porters
1417 * Sec. "Maintainer changes": renamed to "Adopting a package" and moved
1418 to Chapter "Moving, Removing, Renaming, Adopting, and Orphaning
1420 * Sec. "Reporting lots of bugs at once": more forcefully deprecate this
1422 * Sec. "Adopting a package": mention that the BTS maintainer update can
1423 take a couple of weeks
1424 * Sec. "Overview of Debian Maintainer Tools": give credit where credit
1425 is due and attribute current maintainers; add `apt'; add `quinn-diff';
1426 add mention of as yet unreleased 'buildd' package, since I'm so
1427 excited about it and can't wait
1428 * Sec. "Removing packages": talk about how apt-cache can be used to look
1429 at reverse depends, a good step to take prior to removing a package
1431 * show *full* TOC, including sect2
1432 * of course the obligatory typo, grammar, and spelling corrections
1434 * Makefile: small changes to accomodate DDP autobuild
1435 * debian/dirs: obsolete, removed
1436 * debian/rules: use changelog date for SGML timestamping, not current date
1438 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 20 Nov 1998 12:27:53 -0500
1440 developers-reference (2.5.0) frozen unstable; urgency=low
1442 * move to 3-level version number:
1443 top-level version number probably won't change for a while, it is the
1444 "major", the second-level number means significant content changes,
1445 and the third-level change means corrections and minor improvements.
1446 Since this version has significant content changes, we are now 2.5.0.
1447 Since I'm going to put porter instructions in the next major rev, that
1450 * use new <package> tag where appropriate (Ardo, you rock)
1451 * replace 'm86k' with 'm68k'
1452 * rename 'Whirlwind Tour of ...' section to 'Overview of ...' (suggested
1454 * typos and "red-pen" corrections, fix cosmetic problems in PostScript
1456 * remove the one case I use an URL fragment identifier, since
1457 debiandoc-sgml doesn't like it (bug filed against debiandoc-sgml)
1458 * debian/rules: cosmetic cleanups, loosen check for root
1459 * debian/rules: build PostScript version during build, since it's nice
1460 to have all my debiandoc2* scripts together
1461 * debian/control: policy compliant to 2.5.0
1463 * advise against uploading when a package has lintian problems of
1465 * "Mailing Lists and Servers":
1466 - "The master server": mention how master is the home of the BTS;
1467 mention how users need to take care with their accounts on master
1468 - "The WWW servers": fill in www.debian.org, first pass, and discuss
1469 how to put up your own web pages on va or master
1470 - "The CVS server": new section added
1471 - "Mirrors of Debian servers": new section added; point to info about
1473 * "Applying to Become a Maintainer": do not advise resending initial
1474 application; instead, simply mail a followup asking new maintainers
1475 whether they go the initial application (closes Bug #28739); mention
1476 that calls usually come in the evening; mention that if you use PGP
1477 v5, you need to generate an RSA key (right?); clarify our intentions
1478 with respect to GPG.
1479 * "Release code names": Debian 2.2 is 'potato'
1480 * "Distribution directories": give concrete examples, hopefully making
1481 it clearer where to look in Debian archives for specific stuff;
1482 mention that old distributions are moved to archive servers (is there
1483 a canonical location?)
1484 * "The override file": new section, added under "Notification that a new
1485 package has been installed"; fill it out quite a bit
1486 * "Uploading to *": reiterate thrice not to upload export
1487 controlled-software to master, or the European queues on erlangen and
1489 * "Picking a distribution": section broken out from "Generating the
1491 * "Uploading to frozen": new section, almost straight from Brian White
1492 (hope you don't mind!) -- isn't that topical?
1493 * "Interim releases": if you NMU a new upstream version (0.1), run
1494 'dpkg-buildpackage -sa'
1496 -- Adam P. Harris <aph@debian.org> Thu, 12 Nov 1998 00:03:43 -0500
1498 developers-reference (2.4.1.5) unstable; urgency=low
1500 * Fix instructions for new maintainers, incorporating the actual text
1501 sent to prospective new maintainers. Improve this text a bit for
1502 readability, coverage, and organization. Significant changes were
1503 patched back to the new-maintainers group, if they care to use
1504 them. (closes Bug#26948)
1505 * Add an introductory "Scope" chapter which helps delineate what should
1506 and should not be included in this Reference.
1507 * Add a new chapter, "Whirlwind Tour of Debian Maintainer Tools". Let
1508 me know what useful tools I forgot -- remember, Debian-specific
1509 maintainer tools only!
1510 * Add discussion of the "experimental" distribution, culled from an email
1511 from Guy Maor on debian-devel.
1512 * Incorporated suggestions from Branden Robinson (closes Bug#27211).
1513 * Point to doc-debian's mailing list instructions where relevant.
1514 * Made references to online documentation into URLs where possible.
1515 * Little corrections here and there.
1516 * add a Makefile for use in the DDP manual hierarchy
1517 * debian/rules: comment out my 'source-depends' hack; it's just slowing
1520 -- Adam P. Harris <aph@debian.org> Thu, 1 Oct 1998 03:42:43 -0400
1522 developers-reference (2.4.1.4) unstable; urgency=low
1524 * fill in Section "The master server" a bit; other servers to follow
1525 * in Section "Distribution directories", mention that distributions
1526 are always in 'dists' subdir of the Debian archive; talk about
1528 * in Section "Release code names", talk about 'sid' a bit
1529 * in Section "Interim releases", talk about how non-maintainers should
1530 use the BTS, and bug severity "fixed" (closes Bug#17524)
1531 * in Section "Generating the changes file", talk about how to set the
1532 distribution in the debian/changelog file (i.e., "frozen unstable")
1533 * add a new Section "Checking the package prior to upload" to Section
1534 "Uploading a package", mentioning lintian and other tests one should
1535 do prior to uploading
1536 * add new Section "Notification that a new package has been installed"
1537 in Section "Uploading a package", talking about dinstall and the
1539 * add new Sections "Moving packages", "Removing packages", "Replacing or
1540 renaming packages", and "Orphaning a package" (closes Bug#26650)
1541 * add new Section "Bugs in your packages", talking about maintainer
1542 duties with respect to bugs
1543 * add new Section "Lintian reports" under "Handling bugs reports",
1544 talking about how maintainers should check their packages with lintian
1545 every now and then, alternatively pointing them to the lintian web
1547 * clarify, a bit, the use of "section" and "subsection", bringing it
1548 into line with the usage in the Policy Manual and Packaging Manual
1549 * grammar and markup changes throughout
1550 * debian/rules: added a crude source-depends rule, which renders more
1551 explicit what is used to build this package
1553 -- Adam P. Harris <aph@debian.org> Mon, 21 Sep 1998 00:51:46 -0400
1555 developers-reference (2.4.1.3) unstable; urgency=low
1558 * version number and date are automatically populated now
1559 * changed doc-base section to "debian"
1560 * debian/rules: better abstraction and organization
1561 * reformat SGML like I happen to like it
1562 * utilize the new URL tag
1563 * build PostScript on letter size, I hear thats better for A4 and US
1566 -- Adam P. Harris <aph@debian.org> Thu, 16 Jul 1998 00:52:35 -0400
1568 developers-reference (2.4.1.2) frozen unstable; urgency=low
1570 * non-maintainer release
1571 * rebuilt since HTML versions of Chapters 1 and 2 were truncated
1572 (important bug, no number yet, bugs.debian.org isn't working;
1573 regardless, this should go in hamm because a broken developers
1574 reference won't win us many friends in hamm, and after all, it's just
1575 text, it can't hurt you.)
1576 * no content changes, except that the version number in the SGML file
1577 reflect this packages version number
1578 * debian/rule: clean is cleaner now
1580 -- Adam P. Harris <aph@debian.org> Tue, 16 Jun 1998 01:35:39 -0400
1582 developers-reference (2.4.1.1) frozen unstable; urgency=low
1586 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Thu, 14 May 1998 21:56:36 +0200
1588 developers-reference (2.4.1.0) frozen unstable; urgency=low
1590 * New version numbering scheme:
1592 - The version numbers are independent of dpkg now, but all policy
1593 manuals (the Debian Policy Manual, the Debian Packaging Manual, and
1594 the Debian Developer's Reference) share the same version numbering
1597 - The first three digits of the version number specify the
1598 `Standards-Version.' This number is incremented with each policy
1599 change. The fourth digit represents the `patch-level,' which may
1600 differ between the manuals.
1602 If only the patch-level digit is incremented, no changes in policy
1603 have been made, except bug fixes and clarifications. Packages only
1604 have to specify the first three digits of the version number in the
1605 `Standards-Version' field of their source packages.
1607 * Uploaded to frozen and unstable. This is a documentation-only
1608 package and the changes to the manual are relevant for hamm.
1610 * No changes to the Developer's Reference
1612 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Mon, 13 Apr 1998 17:54:43 +0200
1614 developers-reference (0.5) unstable; urgency=low
1616 * Changes to the Developer's Reference:
1618 - Changed section 1.2 Registering as a Debian developer:
1619 + signatures from formal certification service are _NOT_ accepted
1621 + images of ID documents have to be PGP or RSA signed
1622 (as requested by James Troup)
1624 - Use current date instead of <date> in manual
1626 * Updated FSF's address (reported by Lintian)
1628 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Sat, 7 Mar 1998 13:52:15 +0100
1630 developers-reference (0.4) unstable; urgency=low
1632 * Changes to the Developer's Reference:
1634 - Renamed chapter 4 into `Package uploads'
1636 - New section 4.2.5 Uploading to the non-us server
1638 - Changed section 4.4 Interim releases:
1639 + non-maintainer releases should not close bugs
1640 + normal maintainer must at least read the patch provided with
1641 the non-maintainer release
1643 - New chapter 5 Handling bug reports:
1644 + when reporting more then 10 bugs on the same topic, a message
1645 has to be sent to debian-devel and the `maintonly' address
1648 - Lots of typos fixed
1650 * Compressed SGML source code
1652 * Added support for doc-base to register the Developer's Reference
1653 to the online documentation systems dwww and dhelp
1655 * Upgraded to standards version 2.4.0.0 (no changes)
1657 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Fri, 30 Jan 1998 21:58:34 +0100
1659 developers-reference (0.3) unstable; urgency=low
1661 * Put lost sections from Policy Manual 2.1.3.3 back in:
1662 - Generating the changes file (for uploads)
1663 - Announcing package uploads
1664 * New section about Debian Mentors
1665 * debian/rules: Don't use debstd anymore
1666 * debian/rules: Compress changelog file (fixes:#15441)
1667 * Fixed link to WNPP list (fixes:#16201)
1668 * Added menu entry (fixes:#15708)
1670 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Wed, 24 Dec 1997 13:54:33 +0100
1672 developers-reference (0.2) unstable; urgency=low
1674 * New chapter about `The Debian Archive' describing the structure
1675 of our FTP server and the development process
1676 * Added note that new maintainers have to read the Social Contract
1677 and have to know where to find the Policy and Packaging Manuals
1678 * PGP key ring is not distributed via dpkg but in doc/ of the FTP
1680 * Added note that cross posting between Debian lists is depreciated
1681 * New list of advantages why new packages should be discussed on
1682 debian-devel before they are uploaded
1683 * Added section about how packages are uploaded
1684 * Added note that the Security Managers may do interim releases without
1685 contacting the maintainer
1686 * Removed chapter about bug tracking system (will be included in
1687 a new manual released soon)
1688 * Some minor changes
1689 * Include SGML source in package
1690 * Don't use `2-up' style for PostScript version
1691 * Upgraded to Standards 2.3.0.1
1693 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Sun, 2 Nov 1997 20:53:26 +0100
1695 developers-reference (0.1) unstable; urgency=low
1699 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Tue, 8 Jul 1997 00:19:49 +0200
~ianmdlvl / developers-reference.git / blob