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
8 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org>
10 developers-reference (3.3.1) unstable; urgency=low
13 - package description said it contained French and Japanese, fixed,
15 - Sec "Experimental": sources.list entries
16 - Sec "Basic rules for [mailing list] use": cosmetic, link to this sec
17 - Sec "Handling bugs": retitle and expand section
19 - more improvements to package synopsis and description
20 - the synopsis formula changed to either
21 <package-name> is a <synopsis>
23 <package-name> is <synopsis>
25 <package-name> are <synopsis>
27 - the synopsis itself should not start with an article
28 - Sec "Best practices for debian/control": expand intro
29 - fix doc-check URL; closes: #187144
30 - Sec "Multiple binary packages": fix awkward wording about vim source
31 package; closes: #187143
33 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 4 Apr 2003 14:26:52 -0500
35 developers-reference (3.3) unstable; urgency=low
38 - French translation updated to version 3.2.2 (more or less)
39 - proofread by Philippe Batailler
41 - added "ddtp" keyword in the PTS documentation
43 - split out the doc-files per language, closes: #177448
44 - shuffled stuff around in the packages chapter
45 - added a section describing how to handle large amounts of
46 architecture-independent data bundled with programs
47 - added best practices on debian/changelog files, based on a patch
48 kindly provided by Daniel Kobras, closes: #166388
49 - described debdiff and dpkg-depcheck, and linked to them from the
50 right places in the document, closes: #172897
51 - describe the current practice in writing synopsis lines,
55 - convert to debhelper (compat mode 4); maintainer scripts no longer
57 - split -ja and -fr versions out into separate packages
58 - top-level makefile deletes targets on error; clean is cleaner
59 - replace the manual debian/control processing to show the document's
60 table of contents (TOC) with a new script 'debian/tocsubstvars';
61 note that the TOC displayed in the developers-reference-{fr,ja}
62 package descriptions are in English until UTF8 control files are
63 allowed; proper escaping of single quotes here requires newest
65 - editorial changes on material added in this version
66 - reorder "Best Packaging Practices" a bit
67 - rework "Best practices for debian/control" based on contributions
68 from Colin Walters, Branden Robinson, Sebastian Rittau and others;
69 closes: #139957, #108416
70 - primary author is developers-reference@packages.debian.org; remove
71 emails from other authors to prevent spam and confusion
73 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Mon, 24 Feb 2003 13:29:07 -0500
75 developers-reference (3.2.2) unstable; urgency=low
78 - slightly rewrote and updated links in the mirrors section
80 - Policy compliance checked and updated to 3.5.8, no changes needed
81 - TODO: remove some tasks which are done
82 - ship README-contrib and TODO in the doc dir
83 - Sec "Upstream home page": some revisions based on discussion on
85 - Sec "Documentation" added under Sec "Common packaging situations"
86 for best practices for documentation
87 - Add tools entries for autotools-dev, dpkg-repack, alien, debsums;
88 new Sec "Documentation and information", add entries there for
89 debview, debiandoc-sgml, debian-keyring; we believe this manual now
90 covers all of the established, general Debian maintainer tool
94 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Thu, 12 Dec 2002 13:45:23 -0500
96 developers-reference (3.2.1) unstable; urgency=low
99 - Sec "Best practices for debian/control" added, Sec "Writing useful
100 descriptions" moved under there
101 - Sec "Upstream home page" added in debian/control section
102 - Sec "Miscellaneous advice" empty, removed
103 - Sec "Overview of maintainer tools": tools now categorized into
104 subgroups; do cross-linking from this section into other parts of
105 the document where these tools are discussed
106 - Sec "Overview of maintainer tools": add entries for sbuild,
107 build-essential, linda; improved entries for pbuilder, devscripts
108 - Sec "Tools for porters" renamed and readapted to "Porting
109 infrastructure and automation"; move tool discussion down to the
110 appendix; improve Sec "buildd" a bit
111 - README-contrib added giving information for authors, contributors,
113 - eliminate the ByHand stuff, I'm pretty sure it's not needed now
114 with the DDP builder process, or if it is needed, it's a probably
115 that can be fixed by DDP folks
116 - stop shipping SGML source -- use 'apt-get source developers-reference'
117 after all, this is supposed to be a binary package, right?
118 - simply PS and PDF building rules
120 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Mon, 9 Dec 2002 03:04:19 -0500
122 developers-reference (3.2) unstable; urgency=low
125 - merged a bit misplaced lintian-reports section within the lintian
126 section and adjusted links
127 - added the missing description of dh-make and adjusted links
129 - ChangeLog attribution updates
130 - fix typos, closes: #171781
131 - expand the doc-base abstract and authors
132 - Ch "Packaging Practices" rewritten intro
133 - Sec "Packaging tools and common cases" renamed to "Best Practices
134 for debian/rules", and write an intro
135 - Sec "Helper scripts" in practices section rewritten, giving
136 arguments for and against debhelper, mostly for :)
137 - Sec "Package with multiple patches" renamed to "Patching source
138 versus patching at build time" and rewritten
139 - Sec "Multiple binary packages" rewritten
140 - Sec "Handling debconf translations" moved under an
141 "Internationalization" section, and some edits
142 - Sec "Internationalized Documentation" added under Sec
143 "Internationalization"
144 - Sec "Specific packaging practices" renamed to "Common packaging situations"
145 - Sec "Packages using autoconf/automake" rewritten
146 - Sec "Configuration management" moved forward in practices chapter
147 - Sec "Other specific packages" renamed to "Specific types of
148 packages", add info for SGML/XML and Lisp packages
149 - Sec "Writing useful descriptions" heavily edited
150 - Sec "Best practices for maintainer scripts" added, special credit
151 here to Charles Briscoe-Smith for work dating back to 1998; include
152 a POSIX shell snippet showing how to check if a command is the PATH,
154 - Apdx "Overview of Debian Maintainer Tools": remove debget, it's
155 rather useless and broken
156 - normalize up-casing on sections, which should only up-case proper
157 names and the first word
158 - new 'translation-status' script to check status of translations,
159 adapted from doc-check in boot-floppies, source pkg only --
160 oh my, French translation is 54 CVS revisions behind, and Japanese
162 - postinst: don't set /usr/doc symlink, aesthetics
163 - prerm: don't use 'command -v', it's not POSIX
164 - rules: produce md5sums file; break out a 'test' target
166 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sat, 7 Dec 2002 02:28:06 -0500
168 developers-reference (3.1.2) unstable; urgency=low
171 - DDP publishing update
173 - doc-base file includes French and Japanese files
174 - debsign invocation was slightly wrong, closes: #170523
175 - Sec "Handling debconf translations", updates from Martin Quinson
176 for po-debconf with minimal editorial changes, closes: #169007
178 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Wed, 27 Nov 2002 21:16:30 -0500
180 developers-reference (3.1.1) unstable; urgency=low
183 - updated IRC stuff, thanks to Ben Armstrong, closes: #161403
184 - fixed/updated/extended stuff about bugs, hoping to address the
185 issue of people abusing the changelog bug closing feature
187 - added myself as co-author
188 - fix a typo in Sec "Collaborative maintenance", closes: #161488
190 - updated security information, merging in Joey's stuff from the
191 Security Team FAQ and various updates and clarifications
193 - fix some bad URLs, closes: #168357
194 - fix a grammar typo, closes: #166098
196 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Tue, 12 Nov 2002 23:15:03 -0500
198 developers-reference (3.1) unstable; urgency=low
201 - Corrected several errors with —
202 - Applied patch from Peter Palfrader, correcting
203 the URL for the Debian Voting Information page. closes: #150427
204 - Applied patch from Matej Vela, dpkg-buildpackage does no more
205 require -sa for version -0.1. closes: #150861
206 - Applied the reformulations proposed by David Kimdon. closes: #150572
207 - Applied the patch of Matt Zimmerman. Thanks Matt! closes: #145287
208 - Added the explanation about how to replace an .orig.tar.gz.
210 - Mostly deleted the paragraph about security upload in the
211 section explaining source NMU. Just added a link to point to
212 "Handling security-related bugs". closes: #159935
213 - Added a link to the Technical Committee web page (in the "Bug
214 housekeeping" section). closes: #151365
215 - Explain uploads to testing-proposed-updates, mentions briefly
216 stable-security and testing-security. closes: #149666
217 Removed the comment about uploads to frozen.
218 - Documented the "Developer's packages overview" web portal.
220 - Added a reference to debian-l10n-english in "Writing useful
221 descriptions". closes: #158609
222 - Added a Best Packaging Practice section for "Packages using
223 autoconf/automake". closes: #158045
224 - Documented associated features to db.debian.org like SSH key
225 replication and *.debian.net DNS entry. closes: #155389
226 - Added a section about "Bug Squashing Parties".
228 - removed obsolete, needless dupload variables
229 - applied linguistic fixes from David Kimdon, closes: #150572
230 - random proofreading, mostly changing he -> they
231 - added people.d.o and non-us.d.o to the Debian servers section, and
232 mostly rewrote it to exclude real machine names and be better organized
233 - updated the mailing lists section
235 - debian/changelog: remove obsolete Emacs variables
236 - editorial review of the changes above, minor tagging changes,
239 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Tue, 10 Sep 2002 21:57:41 -0400
241 developers-reference (3.0) unstable; urgency=low
244 - welcome Manoj Srivastava as a co-maintainer
245 - welcome Raphael Hertzog as a co-maintainer
247 - new Chapter "Resource for Debian Developers", incorporating
249 Ch "Mailing Lists, Servers, and Other Machines"
250 Ch "The Debian Archive"
252 - new Chapter "Managing Packages", incorporating former chapters
254 Ch "Non-Maintainer Uploads (NMUs)"
255 Ch "Porting and Being Ported"
256 Ch "Moving, Removing, Renaming, Adopting, and Orphaning Packages"
257 Ch "Handling Bugs" (retitled "Handling package bugs")
258 Sec "Bug housekeeping" (new section, some parts stubbed out)
260 - new Chapter "Beyond Packaging" recommends ways to contribute
261 to Debian beyond issues of package maintenance; incoporates
262 Ch "Interaction with Prospective Developers", retitled to
263 Sec "Interacting with Prospective Debian Developers"
264 Sec "Submitting Bugs", renamed to "Reporting Bugs"
265 Sec "QA" moved here from old Sec "Quality Assurance effort"
266 Sec "Dealing with unreachable maintainers"
268 - Sec "The Developers Database" added under Resources
269 - new Sec "Collaborative Maintenance" concerning multiple maintainers
272 - Sec "Getting started": add link to New Maintainers' Guide
273 - Sec "Debian Mentors" renamed to "Debian Mentors and Sponsors",
274 we add some info on sponsoring; also in Sec "Sponsoring packages"
275 - Section's first word capitalized, rest are normal case
276 - purge a reference to the Packaging Manual; closes: #145039
277 - misc. cross-referencing with new or moved sections
278 - change some literal quotes to ‘, ”, etc.
279 - tagging improvements: replace <tt> with <file> for files and
280 directories; since <tt><var> and <example><var> doesn't look right,
281 work-around with <...>
282 - entity'ize master.debian.org, us-upload-dir, non-us-upload-dir
283 - update copyright date
284 - some simplifications on the TeX suffix rule
285 - spell check and grammar corrections
289 - changed -e by -m in the dpkg-buildpackage command line example;
291 - clarify wording between "porter upload", "binary-only NMU", "simple
292 recompile"; closes: #102626
293 - extended "removing a package"; closes: #135560
294 - Ch "Best Packaging Practices": new chapter, including new
295 Sec "Writing useful descriptions" as a first entry in that
296 chapter; closes: #53109, #129848
297 - indicate that the list of subsections is defined in the policy;
299 - removed some cruft in `Announcing package uploads'
300 - document the testing scripts; closes: #129445
301 - explain how to reassign/close bugs of removed packages;
303 - updates the note about software subject to US patents;
305 - new Section "Contacting other maintainers" under "Beyond packaging"
306 Document the package@packages.debian.org alias; closes: #114553
307 - new Section "Package's information" under Resources
308 Document http://packages.debian.org/<package>,
309 http://bugs.debian.org/<package> and the madison utility
310 - Sec "Reporting bugs": added http://bugs.debian.org/from:email@isp.com
311 - Sec "Handling bugs": added http://bugs.debian.org/login@debian.org
312 - Sec "The Incoming system" in "Resources", describe how it works and
313 also speak of the DELAYED directory; closes: #135562, #136774
315 - Sec "Developer Database": added a sentence about finger
317 - update the total number of packages and the example directory tree
319 - updated the list of available architectures.
320 - commented out the "Subsections" section since it will RSN have nothing
321 to with the Debian archive. It's just a generic information field
322 of the package and nothing more.
323 - added more incentive to use experimental since it doesn't cause
324 any pain to the ftpmasters.
325 - Sec "When to do a source NMU": updated the NMU "protocol" and suggest
326 the use of the delayed queue.
327 - new Section "Acknowledging the NMUs" to explain the need to integrate
328 the changes introduced by NMUs. Insists on the fact that one shouldn't
330 - stubbed in new Section "Collaborative maintenance"
331 - stubbed in new Section "The Package Tracking System"
332 - Sec "The Package Tracking System": filled with content from
333 Francesco Paolo Lovergine, heavily updated by myself
334 - new Section "Managing sponsored packages" contributed by
335 Francesco Paolo Lovergine, slightly updated by myself
336 - new Sec "Bug housekeeping"; closes: #39519
338 - new Sec "Documentation"
339 - added Sec "IRC channels" in the Resources chapter
340 - added Sec "pbuilder" in the appendix. Mention it in the section
341 "Being kind to porter" too
342 - extended Sec "devscripts" with info about "bts" and "uscan"
343 - completed Sec "Helper scripts"
344 - completed Sec "Package with multiple patches",
345 "Multiple binary packages", "Libraries", "Other specific packages",
346 "The wise use of debconf" -- all those are quite simplistic, they
348 - integrated Sec "Handling debconf translations" contributed by
349 Denis Barbier -- thanks, Denis!
352 - update French translation
354 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 14 Jun 2002 01:18:19 -0400
356 developers-reference (2.11) unstable; urgency=low
359 - some grammar corrections
360 - update French translation
362 - changes in upload situation, not possible to remove from Incoming
363 anymore; closes: #135559
364 - also talk about dput a tiny bit
366 - Ch "Overview of Debian Maintainer Tools":
368 - Charles Briscoe-Smith deprecates yada (I think new maintainers of
369 that would be welcome)
370 - debconf-doc mentioned for debconf
371 - debhelper: don't talk about debmake; mention how to get info on the dh-* pkgs
372 - dput: new section, closes: #129378
373 - debootstrap: new section, closes: #129377
374 - dpkg-dev-el: new section
375 - other minor wording changes
376 - Sec "Mailing Lists": where to find private archives, closes: #96780
377 - Ch "Package uploads":
378 - new Sec "Adding an entry to debian/changelog"
379 - rename Sec "Announcing new packages" to "New packages"
380 - crypto is in main, non-US is for patent restrictions, so:
381 - excise some text from "Registering as a Debian developer"
382 - changes in Sec "Uploading to ftp-master"
383 - changes in Sec "Uploading to non-US"
384 * old bugs closed out, closes: #110573
386 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 7 Apr 2002 23:34:08 -0700
388 developers-reference (2.10.0) unstable; urgency=low
390 * from Martin Michlmayr
391 - update the "Applying to Become a New Maintainer" section, with
392 review by Raphael Hertzog, closes: #133965
393 - bugs closed in NMUs should uses 'closes' changelog entries,
395 - developers are not required to subscribe to debian-private
397 - some suggestions on places to use the proper term, Debian GNU/Linux,
399 - fix some typos, closes: #133956
401 - frozen doesn't exist anymore, just testing; note, however, that
402 there is a way to upload to 'woody-proposed-updates' -- if I can
403 find some description of that, I'll document it; closes: #133948
406 - isolate a few more language-independent bits
408 - change /usr/doc to /usr/share/doc, and typo in debian/copyright,
411 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 24 Feb 2002 14:46:46 -0500
413 developers-reference (2.9.0) unstable; urgency=low
416 - created a new subsection about uploading to stable, and elaborated
418 - removed a stray sentence about stable from the paragraph about
419 security uploads (which apply to all distributions equally)
420 - replaced the nonexistent term "Security Manager" with "security officer"
421 - uploading to stable and unstable is deprecated; updated the section
422 about the experimental distribution; other fixes in the section
423 talking about uploading to distributions
424 - better organize some subsections in the section about package uploads
425 - replaced some bogus <ftppath>s with <tt>s
426 - noted how there is an upload queue on pandora, too
428 - French translation updated
430 - normalize '--' as — for prettier output
431 - integrate changes from James Troup, part of #102626
432 - typo fix thanks to Mark Hodge
434 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 21 Oct 2001 01:03:01 -0400
436 developers-reference (2.8.8) unstable; urgency=low
439 - a few more strong words about sponsoring
440 - started a new chapter about the relationship between old and new
443 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 20 Jul 2001 17:53:47 -0400
445 developers-reference (2.8.7) unstable; urgency=low
448 * fix a typo in a link
449 * dpkg-buildpackage -m<addr> flag was changed for -e<addr> when NMU'ing;
450 update documentation accordingly
452 * Matt Zimmerman fixes up some wording in the section talking about
453 forwarding bugs upstream
455 * provide proper l10n for SGML date entities; now we have &date-<LANG>
456 entities which should be used
457 * debian/rules: fixes for new debiandoc-sgml
458 * debian/control: depend on debiandoc-sgml 1.1.48 or better
460 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Thu, 21 Jun 2001 14:43:42 -0400
462 developers-reference (2.8.6) unstable; urgency=low
464 * fix a typo, thanks to Antoine Hulin
465 * French version: completely up-to-date now
466 * Makefile: add a 'validate' target
467 * prepare and ship "upstream" ChangeLog; move the debian changelog to
469 * all versions: change the email address to use when orphaning
472 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 13 Apr 2001 03:32:08 -0400
474 developers-reference (2.8.5) unstable; urgency=low
476 * expunge references to the Debian Packaging Manual, which is now in the
478 * Japanese version: also comment out some references packaging manual;
479 this translation needs updating
480 * deny request to shut down non-maintainer bug maintenance bug closure
481 practices (closes: Bug#88623)
482 * add some advice about U.S. citizens uploading to non-US
484 * debian/control: Build-Depends should have been Build-Depends-Indep
485 * French version: First complete translation of the Debian developer's
486 reference guide. Much work done by Antoine Hulin. Reviewed by Nicolas
488 * Portuguese version: work is started by Carlos Laviola, nothing
489 included yet, however
491 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 8 Apr 2001 01:25:51 -0400
493 developers-reference (2.8.4) unstable; urgency=low
495 * debian/control: remove reference to obsolete packaging-manual package
497 * debian/control: fill in the description a bit more
498 * doc-base: index.html corrected to be index.en.html
500 * Makefile: clean is cleaner
502 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 25 Feb 2001 12:47:06 -0500
504 developers-reference (2.8.3) unstable; urgency=low
506 * build and provide French and Japanese versions
507 * devolve build logic from debian/rules to top-level Makefile
508 * developers-reference.jp.sgml: minor changes so it will build (is out
510 * debian/rules: stop making useless /usr/share/developers-reference dir
512 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Mon, 22 Jan 2001 02:02:02 -0500
514 developers-reference (2.8.2) unstable; urgency=low
517 - fix typographic errors reported by David Martinez (closes: Bug#80740)
518 - common.ent: upped the numbers a little bit, updated lintian reports URL
519 - updated regarding va->klecker move, and www->people move, changed
520 most mentions of dinstall to a generic term "archive maintenance
521 software", removed full path to it because it is in PATH now,
522 mentioned "dak" and "katie" (somewhat vaguely), changed week to
523 month regarding FTP archive waiting time since that\'s more often
524 the case, and changed weeks to hours regarding Maintainers file
525 updates since that\'s also more often the case now, updated some
526 URLs to entities, s/debian-doc/doc-debian/
527 - replaced evil latin1-only quotation marks, replaced mentions of
528 important severity (in RCB context) with serious severity, some
530 - common.ent (1.10): fixed email-debian-user alias; updated
531 sample-dist-dirtree (with more to come)
532 - described testing; described package pools (this particular part
533 required quite a bit of changes, and it might be a bit rough, but
534 it's a start); described the frozen test cycles et al; some other
536 - another update WRT sid/unstable/testing, from Colin Watson
538 * debian/control: add Recommends for debian-policy, packaging-manual
539 * update copyright notice for 2001
540 * fix for WNPP bug filing severities from David Schleef
541 * clarify the status of the Developers's reference as "normative"
542 * add a reference to debconf (closes: Bug#82413)
544 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 21 Jan 2001 18:10:21 -0500
546 developers-reference (2.8.1) unstable; urgency=low
548 * update WNPP instructions, based on patch from Marcelo E. Magallon
550 * spelling corrections, awkward grammar suggestions from Andreas Krueger
552 * debian/rules: remove some obsolete source-depends stuff
554 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sat, 4 Nov 2000 13:22:21 -0500
556 developers-reference (2.8.0) unstable; urgency=low
558 * Almost all changes for this release are from Josip Rodin
559 <joy@debian.org>. Thanks, Josip!
561 * debian/control, postinst, prerm, rules: Policy 3.2.1 (closes:
562 Bug#68929, Bug#70384)
563 * fixed bug closing example (closes: Bug#71198)
564 * update the perl regexp from current /usr/lib/dpkg/parsechangelog/debian
565 * updated keyring/keyserver information (closes: Bug#67783)
566 * updated new-maintainer stuff (closes: Bug#67841)
567 * updated for master -> ftp-master move (closes: Bug#68369)
568 * noted www.d.o is the right host for web pages, but all other machines
569 could be used if necessary
570 * reorder mentions of scp to come before FTP, as it is more secure;
571 mention the rsync dupload method
572 * reorder mentions of pandora <-> non-us, canonical name non-us is
574 * other small corrections
575 * fixed orphaning/adopting instructions with regard to the new WNPP
576 * common.ent: fix urls for cvs.d.o, wnpp, Debian machines page,
577 lists-archives, www.d.o BTS
578 * common.ent: changed link for machines from devel/maintainer_contacts
580 * Makefile: remove unnecessary subshell
582 * Adam's change: update debian/copyright for new Policy, and put my name
583 in there a bit with updated years; update doc-base file for FHS
585 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 15 Oct 2000 03:25:21 -0400
587 developers-reference (2.7.2) frozen unstable; urgency=medium
589 * I believe this should go into frozen because (a) it's only
590 documentation, so it can't introduce RC bugs, and (b) it fixes an
591 error which prevented it from building properly; however, whatever
592 ftpmaster feels is best is fine
594 * include common.ent as well as version.ent
595 (closes: Bug#52582, Bug#48926)
596 * debian/rules: fix build error caused by newer debiandoc-sgml; remove
597 constitution.en.html, since that is now located in the doc-debian
598 package (closes: Bug#54778, Bug#42014); don't compress .pdf file
600 * All changes below from Raphael Hertzog <hertzog@debian.org>
602 * Sec. "Uploading to master" and "Uploading to pandora":
603 explained dinstall -n (closes: Bug#45079)
604 * Sec. "Picking a distribution": added reference to the debian-release
605 team (closes: Bug#52906)
606 * Sec. "Announcing package uploads": rewrote it to take care of the fact
607 that dinstall is doing it automatically (closes: Bug#43877)
608 * Sec. "Mailing lists": added a paragraph about debian-email
610 * Changed the "Maintaining Your Debian Information" into "Debian
611 Developer's Duties" (closes: Bug#28908)
612 - added a section about the LDAP database
613 - added a section about the "on vacation" message
614 - added a section about the coordination with upstream developers
616 - added a section about managing Release Critical bugs
617 - added a section about Quality Assurance effort
619 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 16 Apr 2000 23:24:33 -0400
621 developers-reference (2.7.1) unstable; urgency=low
623 * Sec. "Registering as a Debian developer": we are transitioning away
624 from non-free PGP -- remove allusions to non-free software such as
625 PGPv2 or v5 insofar as possible; recommend use of DSS keys rather than
627 * Sec. "Maintaining Your Public Key": remove PGP-centric stuff
628 * Sec. "When bugs are closed by new uploads": describe how to close bugs
629 via a magic changelog entry (closes: Bug#43690)
630 * Sec. "Generating the changes file": refer to Sec. "When bugs are
631 closed by new uploads" for closing bugs via a changelog entry
632 * developers-reference.sgml: re-enable RCS variables in CVS sources
633 * debian/control,rules: dynamically generate the TOC in the package
634 description from developers-reference.sgml
636 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 12 Sep 1999 18:15:59 -0400
638 developers-reference (2.7.0) unstable; urgency=low
640 * developers-reference.sgml: separated out language-independant elements
641 into common.ent (not content changes); misc minor grammar changes
643 * doc-base: change section for *constitution* to Debian (not 'debian')
645 * Sec. "Stable, unstable, and sometimes frozen": mention how old stable
646 releases are available at archive.debian.org
647 * Sec. "Uploading to pandora (non-us)" added, remove stale
648 information about the old anonymous ftp area (closes Bug#39541);
649 Sec. "Other Upload Queues" added about that upload queues, added
650 samosa and master.debian.org.jp (closes Bug#37804)
651 * Sec. "Yada": mention that yada might not be as robust as other package
652 producing systems, at request of the author; Sec. "equivs" added
653 * Sec. "Moving packages": at the request of Guy Maor, clarify that this
654 procedure is for moving packages in sections (i.e., free, contrib)
656 * Sec. "Registering as a Debian developer": talk about RSA keys rather
657 than PGP keys, since I think GPG can create/handle them now; mention
658 that the official pkg maintainer address much match an ID on your key;
659 * Sec. "Maintaining Your Public Key": beef up the warnings a bit; point
661 * Sec. "Mailing Lists, Servers, and Other Machines": clean up and
662 clarify section; mention that all developers are expected to be
663 subscribed to debian-private and debian-devel-announce
664 * Sec. "Other Debian Machines": remove list of machines; point to
665 http://www.debian.org/devel/machines instead
666 * Sec. "Release code names": potato is 2.2
667 * Sec. "Guidelines for Porter Uploads": talk about recompile only
668 uploads and version numbers for this (i.e., foo_2.4-1.0.1), from a
669 suggestion from James Troup
670 * Sec. "buildd": mention andrea, and buildd.debian.org
671 * Sec. "Removing packages": correct apt-cache usage
672 * debain/rules: update standards to 3.0.1 -- since I'm not moving
673 /usr/doc to /usr/share/doc yet, no changes were required except in the
676 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Mon, 16 Aug 1999 23:29:45 -0400
678 developers-reference (2.6.8) unstable; urgency=low
680 * when applying as a new user, the login name can be *eight* characters,
681 not seven (thanks to Rafael Caetano dos Santos)
683 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 21 May 1999 21:50:04 -0400
685 developers-reference (2.6.7) unstable; urgency=low
687 * SGML'ish: normalize SGML elements, refill paragraphs (closes Bug#37987)
688 * doc-base: change section to Debian -- hmm, this looks like a doc-base
689 bug, really, but hey, who am I to refile bugs to another one of my own
690 packages? (closes Bug#37392)
691 * Ch. "Overview of Debian Maintainer Tools": new section for yada (um,
692 someone who uses this should check my description), correct build ->
693 debuild in the devscripts section (closes Bug#38053)
695 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 21 May 1999 01:41:45 -0400
697 developers-reference (2.6.6) unstable; urgency=low
699 * Sec. "The master server": note that problems on Debian ftp can be sent
700 to ftpmaster@debian.org also
701 * Secs. "Uploads via chiark" and "Uploads via erlangen": remove
702 'cron-driven' (thanks Roman Hodek)
703 * Sec. "Being Kind to Porters": typos corrected, note that binary-arch
704 and binary-indep targets should work independantly (thanks Roman
706 * Sec. "buildd": remove erroneous reference to debbuild, reorganize the
707 section and correct typos (thank again Roman -- boy, this is the all
709 * debian/rules: re-enable letter-sized PDFs
711 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 9 May 1999 01:17:29 -0400
713 developers-reference (2.6.5) unstable; urgency=low
715 * Sec. "Architectures": correction on supported architecture in Linux
717 * Sec. "Experimental": other reasons to use or not use the experiment
718 archive "section", from comments by Guy Maor
719 * Sec. "Being Kind to Porters": replace x86 with i386 (closes Bug#36485)
720 * debian/rules: date printing protected from local l10n (closes Bug#36891)
721 * Ch. "Mailing Lists, Servers, and Other Machines": renamed chapter; add
723 * Sec. "Debian Servers": new, for talking about the standard servers,
724 with intro; demoted server sections under that
725 * Sec. "The FTP servers": was empty, removed
726 * Sec. "The master server": fill in more info and cross-refs on how to
728 * Sec. "The CVS server": add some more detail which should be included
729 when requesting cvs areas; mention the cvsweb URL
730 * Sec. "Other Debian Machines": new section, list the machines for which
731 a normal developer may have access.
733 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Tue, 4 May 1999 03:32:21 -0400
735 developers-reference (2.6.4) unstable; urgency=low
737 * debian/rules: hack 'byhand' file entries to include debian version
738 number in it, so subsequent uploads of the package into Incoming don't
739 step all over each other
741 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 9 Apr 1999 20:04:04 -0400
743 developers-reference (2.6.3) unstable; urgency=low
745 * correction from James Troup -- <keyring-maint> is indeed the correct
746 address for PGP key updates
748 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 4 Apr 1999 13:28:58 -0400
750 developers-reference (2.6.2) unstable; urgency=low
752 * Sec. "fakeroot": libtricks is not replacing anything after all
753 * developers-reference.sgml: use public declaration
754 * BTW, if any maintainers of translated versions of this document would
755 like to talk to me about folding your version into the
756 developers-reference CVS area, please get in touch with me
758 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 4 Apr 1999 04:42:29 -0400
760 developers-reference (2.6.1) unstable; urgency=low
762 * include Debian constitution (closes Bug#30694)
763 * Sec. "fakeroot": libtricks is replacing fakeroot, not libtool
764 * Sec. "Maintaining Your Public Key" -- give email addresses as
765 {pgp,gpg}-update@debian.org, at James Troup's request (note to Jameas,
766 if you see this: /usr/doc/debian-keyring/README.gz talks about
767 <keyring-maint> instead)
768 * Ch. "Overview of Debian Maintainer Tools" -- add Sec. "debget"
769 * developers-reference.sgml: minor typo correction from Tril
771 * doc-base stuff: add abstract to developers-reference, new file for
773 * debian/rules: minor cleanup and consistency; build PDF, not PS file;
774 ship PDF file;.text file now has .txt extension
775 * debian/control: set priority to optional, matching archive
777 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sat, 3 Apr 1999 17:17:06 -0500
779 developers-reference (2.6.0) frozen unstable; urgency=low
781 * would be nice to sneak this into slink; it's just documentation!
782 * Ch. "Porting and Being Ported": porter information broken out into it's
783 own chapter, Sec. "Guidelines for Porter Uploads" and "When to do a
784 source NMU if you are a porter" moved to this chapter; porter tool
785 descriptions such as 'quinn-diff' moved to this section. Sec. "Being
786 Kind to Porters" added, with tips for how to avoid making problems for
788 * Ch. "Non-Maintainer Uploads (NMUs)": update for the new chapter, and
789 tighten up the language a bit
790 * Sec. "Monitoring bugs": add a little cron job to get an 'index maint'
791 of outstanding bugs (closes Bug#31259), loosen language a tiny bit
792 w.r.t. non-maintainers or submitters closing bugs (closes Bug#30394)
793 * Sec. "Scope of This Document": point out that this file is not
795 * Ch. "Handling Bugs": renamed from "Handling Bug Reports", incorporate
796 some suggestions from James Troup, namely, don't mail from your root
797 account, don't close bugs via control@bugs.debian.org; break out new
798 sections, "Submitting Bugs" and "Responding to Bugs"
799 * Ch. "Overview of Debian Maintainer Tools": remove attribution for
800 package maintainers, since I can't keep up; add entries for fakeroot
802 * Ch. "Maintaining Your Debian Information": new chapter, quite small
803 right now; it mentions keyring-maint@debian.org for key modification,
804 warns against putting private keys on multi-user machines, and talks
805 about how to depart Debian gracefully
806 * typo correction from Christian Hudon (closes Bug#32052)
807 * menu file removed, obsoleted by doc-base file
808 * parameterize some often-changing values with SGML entities, update
809 number of available packages
810 * use new way of notating multiple copyrights
811 * change <tt> elements to <file> where appropriate
813 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Thu, 11 Feb 1999 02:53:55 -0500
815 developers-reference (2.5.0.5) unstable; urgency=low
817 * add version.ent to docdir, needed to reconstruct from SGML
820 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Tue, 29 Dec 1998 02:42:50 -0500
822 developers-reference (2.5.0.4) unstable; urgency=low
824 * not officially released
825 * more spelling corrections
826 * s/ppc/powerpc/ (thanks, James Troup)
828 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 18 Dec 1998 00:07:40 -0500
830 developers-reference (2.5.0.3) unstable; urgency=low
832 * not officially released
833 * Sec. "Removing a package from Incoming": tiny section added
834 * some PGP-centricity removed
835 * Sec. "Adopting a package": point out that hijacking packages is not ok
836 * Ch. "Non-Maintainer Uploads (NMUs) and Porters": change 'NMU' to
837 'source NMU', 'port' to 'binary NMU', shorten the window for porters a
838 tad; fix spelling; stress that non-maintainer patches must be
839 non-disruptive and that aesthetic issues are not suitable for fixing
840 by non-maintainers; other fixes as suggested by interested parties
842 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Wed, 25 Nov 1998 00:01:27 -0500
844 developers-reference (2.5.0.2) frozen unstable; urgency=low
846 * not officially released
847 * maintainer name change (but it's still me)
848 * Ch. "Non-Maintainer Uploads (NMUs) and Porters": new chapter
849 discussing NMUs and porters; Section "Interim Releases" integrated out
850 of existance. New TOC for this section is:
851 * 6 Non-Maintainer Uploads (NMUs) and Porters
852 + 6.1 Who can do a port or an NMU
853 + 6.2 When to do a port or an NMU
854 o 6.2.1 When to do an NMU if you are a porter
855 + 6.3 How to do an NMU
856 o 6.3.1 NMU version numbering
857 o 6.3.2 NMUs must create a changelog entry
858 o 6.3.3 NMUs must send patches, if any, to the BTS
859 o 6.3.4 Building the NMU
860 + 6.4 Guidelines for Porters
862 * Sec. "Maintainer changes": renamed to "Adopting a package" and moved
863 to Chapter "Moving, Removing, Renaming, Adopting, and Orphaning
865 * Sec. "Reporting lots of bugs at once": more forcefully deprecate this
867 * Sec. "Adopting a package": mention that the BTS maintainer update can
868 take a couple of weeks
869 * Sec. "Overview of Debian Maintainer Tools": give credit where credit
870 is due and attribute current maintainers; add `apt'; add `quinn-diff';
871 add mention of as yet unreleased 'buildd' package, since I'm so
872 excited about it and can't wait
873 * Sec. "Removing packages": talk about how apt-cache can be used to look
874 at reverse depends, a good step to take prior to removing a package
876 * show *full* TOC, including sect2
877 * of course the obligatory typo, grammar, and spelling corrections
879 * Makefile: small changes to accomodate DDP autobuild
880 * debian/dirs: obsolete, removed
881 * debian/rules: use changelog date for SGML timestamping, not current date
883 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 20 Nov 1998 12:27:53 -0500
885 developers-reference (2.5.0) frozen unstable; urgency=low
887 * move to 3-level version number:
888 top-level version number probably won't change for a while, it is the
889 "major", the second-level number means significant content changes,
890 and the third-level change means corrections and minor improvements.
891 Since this version has significant content changes, we are now 2.5.0.
892 Since I'm going to put porter instructions in the next major rev, that
895 * use new <package> tag where appropriate (Ardo, you rock)
896 * replace 'm86k' with 'm68k'
897 * rename 'Whirlwind Tour of ...' section to 'Overview of ...' (suggested
899 * typos and "red-pen" corrections, fix cosmetic problems in PostScript
901 * remove the one case I use an URL fragment identifier, since
902 debiandoc-sgml doesn't like it (bug filed against debiandoc-sgml)
903 * debian/rules: cosmetic cleanups, loosen check for root
904 * debian/rules: build PostScript version during build, since it's nice
905 to have all my debiandoc2* scripts together
906 * debian/control: policy compliant to 2.5.0
908 * advise against uploading when a package has lintian problems of
910 * "Mailing Lists and Servers":
911 - "The master server": mention how master is the home of the BTS;
912 mention how users need to take care with their accounts on master
913 - "The WWW servers": fill in www.debian.org, first pass, and discuss
914 how to put up your own web pages on va or master
915 - "The CVS server": new section added
916 - "Mirrors of Debian servers": new section added; point to info about
918 * "Applying to Become a Maintainer": do not advise resending initial
919 application; instead, simply mail a followup asking new maintainers
920 whether they go the initial application (closes Bug #28739); mention
921 that calls usually come in the evening; mention that if you use PGP
922 v5, you need to generate an RSA key (right?); clarify our intentions
924 * "Release code names": Debian 2.2 is 'potato'
925 * "Distribution directories": give concrete examples, hopefully making
926 it clearer where to look in Debian archives for specific stuff;
927 mention that old distributions are moved to archive servers (is there
928 a canonical location?)
929 * "The override file": new section, added under "Notification that a new
930 package has been installed"; fill it out quite a bit
931 * "Uploading to *": reiterate thrice not to upload export
932 controlled-software to master, or the European queues on erlangen and
934 * "Picking a distribution": section broken out from "Generating the
936 * "Uploading to frozen": new section, almost straight from Brian White
937 (hope you don't mind!) -- isn't that topical?
938 * "Interim releases": if you NMU a new upstream version (0.1), run
939 'dpkg-buildpackage -sa'
941 -- Adam P. Harris <aph@debian.org> Thu, 12 Nov 1998 00:03:43 -0500
943 developers-reference (2.4.1.5) unstable; urgency=low
945 * Fix instructions for new maintainers, incorporating the actual text
946 sent to prospective new maintainers. Improve this text a bit for
947 readability, coverage, and organization. Significant changes were
948 patched back to the new-maintainers group, if they care to use
949 them. (closes Bug#26948)
950 * Add an introductory "Scope" chapter which helps delineate what should
951 and should not be included in this Reference.
952 * Add a new chapter, "Whirlwind Tour of Debian Maintainer Tools". Let
953 me know what useful tools I forgot -- remember, Debian-specific
954 maintainer tools only!
955 * Add discussion of the "experimental" distribution, culled from an email
956 from Guy Maor on debian-devel.
957 * Incorporated suggestions from Branden Robinson (closes Bug#27211).
958 * Point to doc-debian's mailing list instructions where relevant.
959 * Made references to online documentation into URLs where possible.
960 * Little corrections here and there.
961 * add a Makefile for use in the DDP manual hierarchy
962 * debian/rules: comment out my 'source-depends' hack; it's just slowing
965 -- Adam P. Harris <aph@debian.org> Thu, 1 Oct 1998 03:42:43 -0400
967 developers-reference (2.4.1.4) unstable; urgency=low
969 * fill in Section "The master server" a bit; other servers to follow
970 * in Section "Distribution directories", mention that distributions
971 are always in 'dists' subdir of the Debian archive; talk about
973 * in Section "Release code names", talk about 'sid' a bit
974 * in Section "Interim releases", talk about how non-maintainers should
975 use the BTS, and bug severity "fixed" (closes Bug#17524)
976 * in Section "Generating the changes file", talk about how to set the
977 distribution in the debian/changelog file (i.e., "frozen unstable")
978 * add a new Section "Checking the package prior to upload" to Section
979 "Uploading a package", mentioning lintian and other tests one should
980 do prior to uploading
981 * add new Section "Notification that a new package has been installed"
982 in Section "Uploading a package", talking about dinstall and the
984 * add new Sections "Moving packages", "Removing packages", "Replacing or
985 renaming packages", and "Orphaning a package" (closes Bug#26650)
986 * add new Section "Bugs in your packages", talking about maintainer
987 duties with respect to bugs
988 * add new Section "Lintian reports" under "Handling bugs reports",
989 talking about how maintainers should check their packages with lintian
990 every now and then, alternatively pointing them to the lintian web
992 * clarify, a bit, the use of "section" and "subsection", bringing it
993 into line with the usage in the Policy Manual and Packaging Manual
994 * grammar and markup changes throughout
995 * debian/rules: added a crude source-depends rule, which renders more
996 explicit what is used to build this package
998 -- Adam P. Harris <aph@debian.org> Mon, 21 Sep 1998 00:51:46 -0400
1000 developers-reference (2.4.1.3) unstable; urgency=low
1003 * version number and date are automatically populated now
1004 * changed doc-base section to "debian"
1005 * debian/rules: better abstraction and organization
1006 * reformat SGML like I happen to like it
1007 * utilize the new URL tag
1008 * build PostScript on letter size, I hear thats better for A4 and US
1011 -- Adam P. Harris <aph@debian.org> Thu, 16 Jul 1998 00:52:35 -0400
1013 developers-reference (2.4.1.2) frozen unstable; urgency=low
1015 * non-maintainer release
1016 * rebuilt since HTML versions of Chapters 1 and 2 were truncated
1017 (important bug, no number yet, bugs.debian.org isn't working;
1018 regardless, this should go in hamm because a broken developers
1019 reference won't win us many friends in hamm, and after all, it's just
1020 text, it can't hurt you.)
1021 * no content changes, except that the version number in the SGML file
1022 reflect this packages version number
1023 * debian/rule: clean is cleaner now
1025 -- Adam P. Harris <aph@debian.org> Tue, 16 Jun 1998 01:35:39 -0400
1027 developers-reference (2.4.1.1) frozen unstable; urgency=low
1031 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Thu, 14 May 1998 21:56:36 +0200
1033 developers-reference (2.4.1.0) frozen unstable; urgency=low
1035 * New version numbering scheme:
1037 - The version numbers are independent of dpkg now, but all policy
1038 manuals (the Debian Policy Manual, the Debian Packaging Manual, and
1039 the Debian Developer's Reference) share the same version numbering
1042 - The first three digits of the version number specify the
1043 `Standards-Version.' This number is incremented with each policy
1044 change. The fourth digit represents the `patch-level,' which may
1045 differ between the manuals.
1047 If only the patch-level digit is incremented, no changes in policy
1048 have been made, except bug fixes and clarifications. Packages only
1049 have to specify the first three digits of the version number in the
1050 `Standards-Version' field of their source packages.
1052 * Uploaded to frozen and unstable. This is a documentation-only
1053 package and the changes to the manual are relevant for hamm.
1055 * No changes to the Developer's Reference
1057 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Mon, 13 Apr 1998 17:54:43 +0200
1059 developers-reference (0.5) unstable; urgency=low
1061 * Changes to the Developer's Reference:
1063 - Changed section 1.2 Registering as a Debian developer:
1064 + signatures from formal certification service are _NOT_ accepted
1066 + images of ID documents have to be PGP or RSA signed
1067 (as requested by James Troup)
1069 - Use current date instead of <date> in manual
1071 * Updated FSF's address (reported by Lintian)
1073 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Sat, 7 Mar 1998 13:52:15 +0100
1075 developers-reference (0.4) unstable; urgency=low
1077 * Changes to the Developer's Reference:
1079 - Renamed chapter 4 into `Package uploads'
1081 - New section 4.2.5 Uploading to the non-us server
1083 - Changed section 4.4 Interim releases:
1084 + non-maintainer releases should not close bugs
1085 + normal maintainer must at least read the patch provided with
1086 the non-maintainer release
1088 - New chapter 5 Handling bug reports:
1089 + when reporting more then 10 bugs on the same topic, a message
1090 has to be sent to debian-devel and the `maintonly' address
1093 - Lots of typos fixed
1095 * Compressed SGML source code
1097 * Added support for doc-base to register the Developer's Reference
1098 to the online documentation systems dwww and dhelp
1100 * Upgraded to standards version 2.4.0.0 (no changes)
1102 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Fri, 30 Jan 1998 21:58:34 +0100
1104 developers-reference (0.3) unstable; urgency=low
1106 * Put lost sections from Policy Manual 2.1.3.3 back in:
1107 - Generating the changes file (for uploads)
1108 - Announcing package uploads
1109 * New section about Debian Mentors
1110 * debian/rules: Don't use debstd anymore
1111 * debian/rules: Compress changelog file (fixes:#15441)
1112 * Fixed link to WNPP list (fixes:#16201)
1113 * Added menu entry (fixes:#15708)
1115 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Wed, 24 Dec 1997 13:54:33 +0100
1117 developers-reference (0.2) unstable; urgency=low
1119 * New chapter about `The Debian Archive' describing the structure
1120 of our FTP server and the development process
1121 * Added note that new maintainers have to read the Social Contract
1122 and have to know where to find the Policy and Packaging Manuals
1123 * PGP key ring is not distributed via dpkg but in doc/ of the FTP
1125 * Added note that cross posting between Debian lists is depreciated
1126 * New list of advantages why new packages should be discussed on
1127 debian-devel before they are uploaded
1128 * Added section about how packages are uploaded
1129 * Added note that the Security Managers may do interim releases without
1130 contacting the maintainer
1131 * Removed chapter about bug tracking system (will be included in
1132 a new manual released soon)
1133 * Some minor changes
1134 * Include SGML source in package
1135 * Don't use `2-up' style for PostScript version
1136 * Upgraded to Standards 2.3.0.1
1138 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Sun, 2 Nov 1997 20:53:26 +0100
1140 developers-reference (0.1) unstable; urgency=low
1144 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Tue, 8 Jul 1997 00:19:49 +0200