1 developers-reference (3.3.1) unstable; urgency=low
4 - package description said it contained French and Japanese, fixed,
7 - more improvements to package synopsis and description
8 - the synopsis formula changed to either
9 <package-name> is a <synopsis>
11 <package-name> is <synopsis>
13 <package-name> are <synopsis>
15 - the synopsis itself should not start with an article
16 - Sec "Best practices for debian/control": expand intro
17 - fix doc-check URL; closes: #187144
18 - Sec "Multiple binary packages": fix awkward wording about vim source
19 package; closes: #187143
21 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Wed, 2 Apr 2003 15:01:07 -0500
23 developers-reference (3.3) unstable; urgency=low
26 - French translation updated to version 3.2.2 (more or less)
27 - proofread by Philippe Batailler
29 - added "ddtp" keyword in the PTS documentation
31 - split out the doc-files per language, closes: #177448
32 - shuffled stuff around in the packages chapter
33 - added a section describing how to handle large amounts of
34 architecture-independent data bundled with programs
35 - added best practices on debian/changelog files, based on a patch
36 kindly provided by Daniel Kobras, closes: #166388
37 - described debdiff and dpkg-depcheck, and linked to them from the
38 right places in the document, closes: #172897
39 - describe the current practice in writing synopsis lines,
43 - convert to debhelper (compat mode 4); maintainer scripts no longer
45 - split -ja and -fr versions out into separate packages
46 - top-level makefile deletes targets on error; clean is cleaner
47 - replace the manual debian/control processing to show the document's
48 table of contents (TOC) with a new script 'debian/tocsubstvars';
49 note that the TOC displayed in the developers-reference-{fr,ja}
50 package descriptions are in English until UTF8 control files are
51 allowed; proper escaping of single quotes here requires newest
53 - editorial changes on material added in this version
54 - reorder "Best Packaging Practices" a bit
55 - rework "Best practices for debian/control" based on contributions
56 from Colin Walters, Branden Robinson, Sebastian Rittau and others;
57 closes: #139957, #108416
58 - primary author is developers-reference@packages.debian.org; remove
59 emails from other authors to prevent spam and confusion
61 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Mon, 24 Feb 2003 13:29:07 -0500
63 developers-reference (3.2.2) unstable; urgency=low
66 - slightly rewrote and updated links in the mirrors section
68 - Policy compliance checked and updated to 3.5.8, no changes needed
69 - TODO: remove some tasks which are done
70 - ship README-contrib and TODO in the doc dir
71 - Sec "Upstream home page": some revisions based on discussion on
73 - Sec "Documentation" added under Sec "Common packaging situations"
74 for best practices for documentation
75 - Add tools entries for autotools-dev, dpkg-repack, alien, debsums;
76 new Sec "Documentation and information", add entries there for
77 debview, debiandoc-sgml, debian-keyring; we believe this manual now
78 covers all of the established, general Debian maintainer tool
82 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Thu, 12 Dec 2002 13:45:23 -0500
84 developers-reference (3.2.1) unstable; urgency=low
87 - Sec "Best practices for debian/control" added, Sec "Writing useful
88 descriptions" moved under there
89 - Sec "Upstream home page" added in debian/control section
90 - Sec "Miscellaneous advice" empty, removed
91 - Sec "Overview of maintainer tools": tools now categorized into
92 subgroups; do cross-linking from this section into other parts of
93 the document where these tools are discussed
94 - Sec "Overview of maintainer tools": add entries for sbuild,
95 build-essential, linda; improved entries for pbuilder, devscripts
96 - Sec "Tools for porters" renamed and readapted to "Porting
97 infrastructure and automation"; move tool discussion down to the
98 appendix; improve Sec "buildd" a bit
99 - README-contrib added giving information for authors, contributors,
101 - eliminate the ByHand stuff, I'm pretty sure it's not needed now
102 with the DDP builder process, or if it is needed, it's a probably
103 that can be fixed by DDP folks
104 - stop shipping SGML source -- use 'apt-get source developers-reference'
105 after all, this is supposed to be a binary package, right?
106 - simply PS and PDF building rules
108 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Mon, 9 Dec 2002 03:04:19 -0500
110 developers-reference (3.2) unstable; urgency=low
113 - merged a bit misplaced lintian-reports section within the lintian
114 section and adjusted links
115 - added the missing description of dh-make and adjusted links
117 - ChangeLog attribution updates
118 - fix typos, closes: #171781
119 - expand the doc-base abstract and authors
120 - Ch "Packaging Practices" rewritten intro
121 - Sec "Packaging tools and common cases" renamed to "Best Practices
122 for debian/rules", and write an intro
123 - Sec "Helper scripts" in practices section rewritten, giving
124 arguments for and against debhelper, mostly for :)
125 - Sec "Package with multiple patches" renamed to "Patching source
126 versus patching at build time" and rewritten
127 - Sec "Multiple binary packages" rewritten
128 - Sec "Handling debconf translations" moved under an
129 "Internationalization" section, and some edits
130 - Sec "Internationalized Documentation" added under Sec
131 "Internationalization"
132 - Sec "Specific packaging practices" renamed to "Common packaging situations"
133 - Sec "Packages using autoconf/automake" rewritten
134 - Sec "Configuration management" moved forward in practices chapter
135 - Sec "Other specific packages" renamed to "Specific types of
136 packages", add info for SGML/XML and Lisp packages
137 - Sec "Writing useful descriptions" heavily edited
138 - Sec "Best practices for maintainer scripts" added, special credit
139 here to Charles Briscoe-Smith for work dating back to 1998; include
140 a POSIX shell snippet showing how to check if a command is the PATH,
142 - Apdx "Overview of Debian Maintainer Tools": remove debget, it's
143 rather useless and broken
144 - normalize up-casing on sections, which should only up-case proper
145 names and the first word
146 - new 'translation-status' script to check status of translations,
147 adapted from doc-check in boot-floppies, source pkg only --
148 oh my, French translation is 54 CVS revisions behind, and Japanese
150 - postinst: don't set /usr/doc symlink, aesthetics
151 - prerm: don't use 'command -v', it's not POSIX
152 - rules: produce md5sums file; break out a 'test' target
154 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sat, 7 Dec 2002 02:28:06 -0500
156 developers-reference (3.1.2) unstable; urgency=low
159 - DDP publishing update
161 - doc-base file includes French and Japanese files
162 - debsign invocation was slightly wrong, closes: #170523
163 - Sec "Handling debconf translations", updates from Martin Quinson
164 for po-debconf with minimal editorial changes, closes: #169007
166 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Wed, 27 Nov 2002 21:16:30 -0500
168 developers-reference (3.1.1) unstable; urgency=low
171 - updated IRC stuff, thanks to Ben Armstrong, closes: #161403
172 - fixed/updated/extended stuff about bugs, hoping to address the
173 issue of people abusing the changelog bug closing feature
175 - added myself as co-author
176 - fix a typo in Sec "Collaborative maintenance", closes: #161488
178 - updated security information, merging in Joey's stuff from the
179 Security Team FAQ and various updates and clarifications
181 - fix some bad URLs, closes: #168357
182 - fix a grammar typo, closes: #166098
184 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Tue, 12 Nov 2002 23:15:03 -0500
186 developers-reference (3.1) unstable; urgency=low
189 - Corrected several errors with —
190 - Applied patch from Peter Palfrader, correcting
191 the URL for the Debian Voting Information page. closes: #150427
192 - Applied patch from Matej Vela, dpkg-buildpackage does no more
193 require -sa for version -0.1. closes: #150861
194 - Applied the reformulations proposed by David Kimdon. closes: #150572
195 - Applied the patch of Matt Zimmerman. Thanks Matt! closes: #145287
196 - Added the explanation about how to replace an .orig.tar.gz.
198 - Mostly deleted the paragraph about security upload in the
199 section explaining source NMU. Just added a link to point to
200 "Handling security-related bugs". closes: #159935
201 - Added a link to the Technical Committee web page (in the "Bug
202 housekeeping" section). closes: #151365
203 - Explain uploads to testing-proposed-updates, mentions briefly
204 stable-security and testing-security. closes: #149666
205 Removed the comment about uploads to frozen.
206 - Documented the "Developer's packages overview" web portal.
208 - Added a reference to debian-l10n-english in "Writing useful
209 descriptions". closes: #158609
210 - Added a Best Packaging Practice section for "Packages using
211 autoconf/automake". closes: #158045
212 - Documented associated features to db.debian.org like SSH key
213 replication and *.debian.net DNS entry. closes: #155389
214 - Added a section about "Bug Squashing Parties".
216 - removed obsolete, needless dupload variables
217 - applied linguistic fixes from David Kimdon, closes: #150572
218 - random proofreading, mostly changing he -> they
219 - added people.d.o and non-us.d.o to the Debian servers section, and
220 mostly rewrote it to exclude real machine names and be better organized
221 - updated the mailing lists section
223 - debian/changelog: remove obsolete Emacs variables
224 - editorial review of the changes above, minor tagging changes,
227 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Tue, 10 Sep 2002 21:57:41 -0400
229 developers-reference (3.0) unstable; urgency=low
232 - welcome Manoj Srivastava as a co-maintainer
233 - welcome Raphael Hertzog as a co-maintainer
235 - new Chapter "Resource for Debian Developers", incorporating
237 Ch "Mailing Lists, Servers, and Other Machines"
238 Ch "The Debian Archive"
240 - new Chapter "Managing Packages", incorporating former chapters
242 Ch "Non-Maintainer Uploads (NMUs)"
243 Ch "Porting and Being Ported"
244 Ch "Moving, Removing, Renaming, Adopting, and Orphaning Packages"
245 Ch "Handling Bugs" (retitled "Handling package bugs")
246 Sec "Bug housekeeping" (new section, some parts stubbed out)
248 - new Chapter "Beyond Packaging" recommends ways to contribute
249 to Debian beyond issues of package maintenance; incoporates
250 Ch "Interaction with Prospective Developers", retitled to
251 Sec "Interacting with Prospective Debian Developers"
252 Sec "Submitting Bugs", renamed to "Reporting Bugs"
253 Sec "QA" moved here from old Sec "Quality Assurance effort"
254 Sec "Dealing with unreachable maintainers"
256 - Sec "The Developers Database" added under Resources
257 - new Sec "Collaborative Maintenance" concerning multiple maintainers
260 - Sec "Getting started": add link to New Maintainers' Guide
261 - Sec "Debian Mentors" renamed to "Debian Mentors and Sponsors",
262 we add some info on sponsoring; also in Sec "Sponsoring packages"
263 - Section's first word capitalized, rest are normal case
264 - purge a reference to the Packaging Manual; closes: #145039
265 - misc. cross-referencing with new or moved sections
266 - change some literal quotes to ‘, ”, etc.
267 - tagging improvements: replace <tt> with <file> for files and
268 directories; since <tt><var> and <example><var> doesn't look right,
269 work-around with <...>
270 - entity'ize master.debian.org, us-upload-dir, non-us-upload-dir
271 - update copyright date
272 - some simplifications on the TeX suffix rule
273 - spell check and grammar corrections
277 - changed -e by -m in the dpkg-buildpackage command line example;
279 - clarify wording between "porter upload", "binary-only NMU", "simple
280 recompile"; closes: #102626
281 - extended "removing a package"; closes: #135560
282 - Ch "Best Packaging Practices": new chapter, including new
283 Sec "Writing useful descriptions" as a first entry in that
284 chapter; closes: #53109, #129848
285 - indicate that the list of subsections is defined in the policy;
287 - removed some cruft in `Announcing package uploads'
288 - document the testing scripts; closes: #129445
289 - explain how to reassign/close bugs of removed packages;
291 - updates the note about software subject to US patents;
293 - new Section "Contacting other maintainers" under "Beyond packaging"
294 Document the package@packages.debian.org alias; closes: #114553
295 - new Section "Package's information" under Resources
296 Document http://packages.debian.org/<package>,
297 http://bugs.debian.org/<package> and the madison utility
298 - Sec "Reporting bugs": added http://bugs.debian.org/from:email@isp.com
299 - Sec "Handling bugs": added http://bugs.debian.org/login@debian.org
300 - Sec "The Incoming system" in "Resources", describe how it works and
301 also speak of the DELAYED directory; closes: #135562, #136774
303 - Sec "Developer Database": added a sentence about finger
305 - update the total number of packages and the example directory tree
307 - updated the list of available architectures.
308 - commented out the "Subsections" section since it will RSN have nothing
309 to with the Debian archive. It's just a generic information field
310 of the package and nothing more.
311 - added more incentive to use experimental since it doesn't cause
312 any pain to the ftpmasters.
313 - Sec "When to do a source NMU": updated the NMU "protocol" and suggest
314 the use of the delayed queue.
315 - new Section "Acknowledging the NMUs" to explain the need to integrate
316 the changes introduced by NMUs. Insists on the fact that one shouldn't
318 - stubbed in new Section "Collaborative maintenance"
319 - stubbed in new Section "The Package Tracking System"
320 - Sec "The Package Tracking System": filled with content from
321 Francesco Paolo Lovergine, heavily updated by myself
322 - new Section "Managing sponsored packages" contributed by
323 Francesco Paolo Lovergine, slightly updated by myself
324 - new Sec "Bug housekeeping"; closes: #39519
326 - new Sec "Documentation"
327 - added Sec "IRC channels" in the Resources chapter
328 - added Sec "pbuilder" in the appendix. Mention it in the section
329 "Being kind to porter" too
330 - extended Sec "devscripts" with info about "bts" and "uscan"
331 - completed Sec "Helper scripts"
332 - completed Sec "Package with multiple patches",
333 "Multiple binary packages", "Libraries", "Other specific packages",
334 "The wise use of debconf" -- all those are quite simplistic, they
336 - integrated Sec "Handling debconf translations" contributed by
337 Denis Barbier -- thanks, Denis!
340 - update French translation
342 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 14 Jun 2002 01:18:19 -0400
344 developers-reference (2.11) unstable; urgency=low
347 - some grammar corrections
348 - update French translation
350 - changes in upload situation, not possible to remove from Incoming
351 anymore; closes: #135559
352 - also talk about dput a tiny bit
354 - Ch "Overview of Debian Maintainer Tools":
356 - Charles Briscoe-Smith deprecates yada (I think new maintainers of
357 that would be welcome)
358 - debconf-doc mentioned for debconf
359 - debhelper: don't talk about debmake; mention how to get info on the dh-* pkgs
360 - dput: new section, closes: #129378
361 - debootstrap: new section, closes: #129377
362 - dpkg-dev-el: new section
363 - other minor wording changes
364 - Sec "Mailing Lists": where to find private archives, closes: #96780
365 - Ch "Package uploads":
366 - new Sec "Adding an entry to debian/changelog"
367 - rename Sec "Announcing new packages" to "New packages"
368 - crypto is in main, non-US is for patent restrictions, so:
369 - excise some text from "Registering as a Debian developer"
370 - changes in Sec "Uploading to ftp-master"
371 - changes in Sec "Uploading to non-US"
372 * old bugs closed out, closes: #110573
374 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 7 Apr 2002 23:34:08 -0700
376 developers-reference (2.10.0) unstable; urgency=low
378 * from Martin Michlmayr
379 - update the "Applying to Become a New Maintainer" section, with
380 review by Raphael Hertzog, closes: #133965
381 - bugs closed in NMUs should uses 'closes' changelog entries,
383 - developers are not required to subscribe to debian-private
385 - some suggestions on places to use the proper term, Debian GNU/Linux,
387 - fix some typos, closes: #133956
389 - frozen doesn't exist anymore, just testing; note, however, that
390 there is a way to upload to 'woody-proposed-updates' -- if I can
391 find some description of that, I'll document it; closes: #133948
394 - isolate a few more language-independent bits
396 - change /usr/doc to /usr/share/doc, and typo in debian/copyright,
399 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 24 Feb 2002 14:46:46 -0500
401 developers-reference (2.9.0) unstable; urgency=low
404 - created a new subsection about uploading to stable, and elaborated
406 - removed a stray sentence about stable from the paragraph about
407 security uploads (which apply to all distributions equally)
408 - replaced the nonexistent term "Security Manager" with "security officer"
409 - uploading to stable and unstable is deprecated; updated the section
410 about the experimental distribution; other fixes in the section
411 talking about uploading to distributions
412 - better organize some subsections in the section about package uploads
413 - replaced some bogus <ftppath>s with <tt>s
414 - noted how there is an upload queue on pandora, too
416 - French translation updated
418 - normalize '--' as — for prettier output
419 - integrate changes from James Troup, part of #102626
420 - typo fix thanks to Mark Hodge
422 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 21 Oct 2001 01:03:01 -0400
424 developers-reference (2.8.8) unstable; urgency=low
427 - a few more strong words about sponsoring
428 - started a new chapter about the relationship between old and new
431 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 20 Jul 2001 17:53:47 -0400
433 developers-reference (2.8.7) unstable; urgency=low
436 * fix a typo in a link
437 * dpkg-buildpackage -m<addr> flag was changed for -e<addr> when NMU'ing;
438 update documentation accordingly
440 * Matt Zimmerman fixes up some wording in the section talking about
441 forwarding bugs upstream
443 * provide proper l10n for SGML date entities; now we have &date-<LANG>
444 entities which should be used
445 * debian/rules: fixes for new debiandoc-sgml
446 * debian/control: depend on debiandoc-sgml 1.1.48 or better
448 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Thu, 21 Jun 2001 14:43:42 -0400
450 developers-reference (2.8.6) unstable; urgency=low
452 * fix a typo, thanks to Antoine Hulin
453 * French version: completely up-to-date now
454 * Makefile: add a 'validate' target
455 * prepare and ship "upstream" ChangeLog; move the debian changelog to
457 * all versions: change the email address to use when orphaning
460 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 13 Apr 2001 03:32:08 -0400
462 developers-reference (2.8.5) unstable; urgency=low
464 * expunge references to the Debian Packaging Manual, which is now in the
466 * Japanese version: also comment out some references packaging manual;
467 this translation needs updating
468 * deny request to shut down non-maintainer bug maintenance bug closure
469 practices (closes: Bug#88623)
470 * add some advice about U.S. citizens uploading to non-US
472 * debian/control: Build-Depends should have been Build-Depends-Indep
473 * French version: First complete translation of the Debian developer's
474 reference guide. Much work done by Antoine Hulin. Reviewed by Nicolas
476 * Portuguese version: work is started by Carlos Laviola, nothing
477 included yet, however
479 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 8 Apr 2001 01:25:51 -0400
481 developers-reference (2.8.4) unstable; urgency=low
483 * debian/control: remove reference to obsolete packaging-manual package
485 * debian/control: fill in the description a bit more
486 * doc-base: index.html corrected to be index.en.html
488 * Makefile: clean is cleaner
490 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 25 Feb 2001 12:47:06 -0500
492 developers-reference (2.8.3) unstable; urgency=low
494 * build and provide French and Japanese versions
495 * devolve build logic from debian/rules to top-level Makefile
496 * developers-reference.jp.sgml: minor changes so it will build (is out
498 * debian/rules: stop making useless /usr/share/developers-reference dir
500 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Mon, 22 Jan 2001 02:02:02 -0500
502 developers-reference (2.8.2) unstable; urgency=low
505 - fix typographic errors reported by David Martinez (closes: Bug#80740)
506 - common.ent: upped the numbers a little bit, updated lintian reports URL
507 - updated regarding va->klecker move, and www->people move, changed
508 most mentions of dinstall to a generic term "archive maintenance
509 software", removed full path to it because it is in PATH now,
510 mentioned "dak" and "katie" (somewhat vaguely), changed week to
511 month regarding FTP archive waiting time since that\'s more often
512 the case, and changed weeks to hours regarding Maintainers file
513 updates since that\'s also more often the case now, updated some
514 URLs to entities, s/debian-doc/doc-debian/
515 - replaced evil latin1-only quotation marks, replaced mentions of
516 important severity (in RCB context) with serious severity, some
518 - common.ent (1.10): fixed email-debian-user alias; updated
519 sample-dist-dirtree (with more to come)
520 - described testing; described package pools (this particular part
521 required quite a bit of changes, and it might be a bit rough, but
522 it's a start); described the frozen test cycles et al; some other
524 - another update WRT sid/unstable/testing, from Colin Watson
526 * debian/control: add Recommends for debian-policy, packaging-manual
527 * update copyright notice for 2001
528 * fix for WNPP bug filing severities from David Schleef
529 * clarify the status of the Developers's reference as "normative"
530 * add a reference to debconf (closes: Bug#82413)
532 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 21 Jan 2001 18:10:21 -0500
534 developers-reference (2.8.1) unstable; urgency=low
536 * update WNPP instructions, based on patch from Marcelo E. Magallon
538 * spelling corrections, awkward grammar suggestions from Andreas Krueger
540 * debian/rules: remove some obsolete source-depends stuff
542 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sat, 4 Nov 2000 13:22:21 -0500
544 developers-reference (2.8.0) unstable; urgency=low
546 * Almost all changes for this release are from Josip Rodin
547 <joy@debian.org>. Thanks, Josip!
549 * debian/control, postinst, prerm, rules: Policy 3.2.1 (closes:
550 Bug#68929, Bug#70384)
551 * fixed bug closing example (closes: Bug#71198)
552 * update the perl regexp from current /usr/lib/dpkg/parsechangelog/debian
553 * updated keyring/keyserver information (closes: Bug#67783)
554 * updated new-maintainer stuff (closes: Bug#67841)
555 * updated for master -> ftp-master move (closes: Bug#68369)
556 * noted www.d.o is the right host for web pages, but all other machines
557 could be used if necessary
558 * reorder mentions of scp to come before FTP, as it is more secure;
559 mention the rsync dupload method
560 * reorder mentions of pandora <-> non-us, canonical name non-us is
562 * other small corrections
563 * fixed orphaning/adopting instructions with regard to the new WNPP
564 * common.ent: fix urls for cvs.d.o, wnpp, Debian machines page,
565 lists-archives, www.d.o BTS
566 * common.ent: changed link for machines from devel/maintainer_contacts
568 * Makefile: remove unnecessary subshell
570 * Adam's change: update debian/copyright for new Policy, and put my name
571 in there a bit with updated years; update doc-base file for FHS
573 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 15 Oct 2000 03:25:21 -0400
575 developers-reference (2.7.2) frozen unstable; urgency=medium
577 * I believe this should go into frozen because (a) it's only
578 documentation, so it can't introduce RC bugs, and (b) it fixes an
579 error which prevented it from building properly; however, whatever
580 ftpmaster feels is best is fine
582 * include common.ent as well as version.ent
583 (closes: Bug#52582, Bug#48926)
584 * debian/rules: fix build error caused by newer debiandoc-sgml; remove
585 constitution.en.html, since that is now located in the doc-debian
586 package (closes: Bug#54778, Bug#42014); don't compress .pdf file
588 * All changes below from Raphael Hertzog <hertzog@debian.org>
590 * Sec. "Uploading to master" and "Uploading to pandora":
591 explained dinstall -n (closes: Bug#45079)
592 * Sec. "Picking a distribution": added reference to the debian-release
593 team (closes: Bug#52906)
594 * Sec. "Announcing package uploads": rewrote it to take care of the fact
595 that dinstall is doing it automatically (closes: Bug#43877)
596 * Sec. "Mailing lists": added a paragraph about debian-email
598 * Changed the "Maintaining Your Debian Information" into "Debian
599 Developer's Duties" (closes: Bug#28908)
600 - added a section about the LDAP database
601 - added a section about the "on vacation" message
602 - added a section about the coordination with upstream developers
604 - added a section about managing Release Critical bugs
605 - added a section about Quality Assurance effort
607 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 16 Apr 2000 23:24:33 -0400
609 developers-reference (2.7.1) unstable; urgency=low
611 * Sec. "Registering as a Debian developer": we are transitioning away
612 from non-free PGP -- remove allusions to non-free software such as
613 PGPv2 or v5 insofar as possible; recommend use of DSS keys rather than
615 * Sec. "Maintaining Your Public Key": remove PGP-centric stuff
616 * Sec. "When bugs are closed by new uploads": describe how to close bugs
617 via a magic changelog entry (closes: Bug#43690)
618 * Sec. "Generating the changes file": refer to Sec. "When bugs are
619 closed by new uploads" for closing bugs via a changelog entry
620 * developers-reference.sgml: re-enable RCS variables in CVS sources
621 * debian/control,rules: dynamically generate the TOC in the package
622 description from developers-reference.sgml
624 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 12 Sep 1999 18:15:59 -0400
626 developers-reference (2.7.0) unstable; urgency=low
628 * developers-reference.sgml: separated out language-independant elements
629 into common.ent (not content changes); misc minor grammar changes
631 * doc-base: change section for *constitution* to Debian (not 'debian')
633 * Sec. "Stable, unstable, and sometimes frozen": mention how old stable
634 releases are available at archive.debian.org
635 * Sec. "Uploading to pandora (non-us)" added, remove stale
636 information about the old anonymous ftp area (closes Bug#39541);
637 Sec. "Other Upload Queues" added about that upload queues, added
638 samosa and master.debian.org.jp (closes Bug#37804)
639 * Sec. "Yada": mention that yada might not be as robust as other package
640 producing systems, at request of the author; Sec. "equivs" added
641 * Sec. "Moving packages": at the request of Guy Maor, clarify that this
642 procedure is for moving packages in sections (i.e., free, contrib)
644 * Sec. "Registering as a Debian developer": talk about RSA keys rather
645 than PGP keys, since I think GPG can create/handle them now; mention
646 that the official pkg maintainer address much match an ID on your key;
647 * Sec. "Maintaining Your Public Key": beef up the warnings a bit; point
649 * Sec. "Mailing Lists, Servers, and Other Machines": clean up and
650 clarify section; mention that all developers are expected to be
651 subscribed to debian-private and debian-devel-announce
652 * Sec. "Other Debian Machines": remove list of machines; point to
653 http://www.debian.org/devel/machines instead
654 * Sec. "Release code names": potato is 2.2
655 * Sec. "Guidelines for Porter Uploads": talk about recompile only
656 uploads and version numbers for this (i.e., foo_2.4-1.0.1), from a
657 suggestion from James Troup
658 * Sec. "buildd": mention andrea, and buildd.debian.org
659 * Sec. "Removing packages": correct apt-cache usage
660 * debain/rules: update standards to 3.0.1 -- since I'm not moving
661 /usr/doc to /usr/share/doc yet, no changes were required except in the
664 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Mon, 16 Aug 1999 23:29:45 -0400
666 developers-reference (2.6.8) unstable; urgency=low
668 * when applying as a new user, the login name can be *eight* characters,
669 not seven (thanks to Rafael Caetano dos Santos)
671 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 21 May 1999 21:50:04 -0400
673 developers-reference (2.6.7) unstable; urgency=low
675 * SGML'ish: normalize SGML elements, refill paragraphs (closes Bug#37987)
676 * doc-base: change section to Debian -- hmm, this looks like a doc-base
677 bug, really, but hey, who am I to refile bugs to another one of my own
678 packages? (closes Bug#37392)
679 * Ch. "Overview of Debian Maintainer Tools": new section for yada (um,
680 someone who uses this should check my description), correct build ->
681 debuild in the devscripts section (closes Bug#38053)
683 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 21 May 1999 01:41:45 -0400
685 developers-reference (2.6.6) unstable; urgency=low
687 * Sec. "The master server": note that problems on Debian ftp can be sent
688 to ftpmaster@debian.org also
689 * Secs. "Uploads via chiark" and "Uploads via erlangen": remove
690 'cron-driven' (thanks Roman Hodek)
691 * Sec. "Being Kind to Porters": typos corrected, note that binary-arch
692 and binary-indep targets should work independantly (thanks Roman
694 * Sec. "buildd": remove erroneous reference to debbuild, reorganize the
695 section and correct typos (thank again Roman -- boy, this is the all
697 * debian/rules: re-enable letter-sized PDFs
699 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 9 May 1999 01:17:29 -0400
701 developers-reference (2.6.5) unstable; urgency=low
703 * Sec. "Architectures": correction on supported architecture in Linux
705 * Sec. "Experimental": other reasons to use or not use the experiment
706 archive "section", from comments by Guy Maor
707 * Sec. "Being Kind to Porters": replace x86 with i386 (closes Bug#36485)
708 * debian/rules: date printing protected from local l10n (closes Bug#36891)
709 * Ch. "Mailing Lists, Servers, and Other Machines": renamed chapter; add
711 * Sec. "Debian Servers": new, for talking about the standard servers,
712 with intro; demoted server sections under that
713 * Sec. "The FTP servers": was empty, removed
714 * Sec. "The master server": fill in more info and cross-refs on how to
716 * Sec. "The CVS server": add some more detail which should be included
717 when requesting cvs areas; mention the cvsweb URL
718 * Sec. "Other Debian Machines": new section, list the machines for which
719 a normal developer may have access.
721 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Tue, 4 May 1999 03:32:21 -0400
723 developers-reference (2.6.4) unstable; urgency=low
725 * debian/rules: hack 'byhand' file entries to include debian version
726 number in it, so subsequent uploads of the package into Incoming don't
727 step all over each other
729 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 9 Apr 1999 20:04:04 -0400
731 developers-reference (2.6.3) unstable; urgency=low
733 * correction from James Troup -- <keyring-maint> is indeed the correct
734 address for PGP key updates
736 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 4 Apr 1999 13:28:58 -0400
738 developers-reference (2.6.2) unstable; urgency=low
740 * Sec. "fakeroot": libtricks is not replacing anything after all
741 * developers-reference.sgml: use public declaration
742 * BTW, if any maintainers of translated versions of this document would
743 like to talk to me about folding your version into the
744 developers-reference CVS area, please get in touch with me
746 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sun, 4 Apr 1999 04:42:29 -0400
748 developers-reference (2.6.1) unstable; urgency=low
750 * include Debian constitution (closes Bug#30694)
751 * Sec. "fakeroot": libtricks is replacing fakeroot, not libtool
752 * Sec. "Maintaining Your Public Key" -- give email addresses as
753 {pgp,gpg}-update@debian.org, at James Troup's request (note to Jameas,
754 if you see this: /usr/doc/debian-keyring/README.gz talks about
755 <keyring-maint> instead)
756 * Ch. "Overview of Debian Maintainer Tools" -- add Sec. "debget"
757 * developers-reference.sgml: minor typo correction from Tril
759 * doc-base stuff: add abstract to developers-reference, new file for
761 * debian/rules: minor cleanup and consistency; build PDF, not PS file;
762 ship PDF file;.text file now has .txt extension
763 * debian/control: set priority to optional, matching archive
765 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Sat, 3 Apr 1999 17:17:06 -0500
767 developers-reference (2.6.0) frozen unstable; urgency=low
769 * would be nice to sneak this into slink; it's just documentation!
770 * Ch. "Porting and Being Ported": porter information broken out into it's
771 own chapter, Sec. "Guidelines for Porter Uploads" and "When to do a
772 source NMU if you are a porter" moved to this chapter; porter tool
773 descriptions such as 'quinn-diff' moved to this section. Sec. "Being
774 Kind to Porters" added, with tips for how to avoid making problems for
776 * Ch. "Non-Maintainer Uploads (NMUs)": update for the new chapter, and
777 tighten up the language a bit
778 * Sec. "Monitoring bugs": add a little cron job to get an 'index maint'
779 of outstanding bugs (closes Bug#31259), loosen language a tiny bit
780 w.r.t. non-maintainers or submitters closing bugs (closes Bug#30394)
781 * Sec. "Scope of This Document": point out that this file is not
783 * Ch. "Handling Bugs": renamed from "Handling Bug Reports", incorporate
784 some suggestions from James Troup, namely, don't mail from your root
785 account, don't close bugs via control@bugs.debian.org; break out new
786 sections, "Submitting Bugs" and "Responding to Bugs"
787 * Ch. "Overview of Debian Maintainer Tools": remove attribution for
788 package maintainers, since I can't keep up; add entries for fakeroot
790 * Ch. "Maintaining Your Debian Information": new chapter, quite small
791 right now; it mentions keyring-maint@debian.org for key modification,
792 warns against putting private keys on multi-user machines, and talks
793 about how to depart Debian gracefully
794 * typo correction from Christian Hudon (closes Bug#32052)
795 * menu file removed, obsoleted by doc-base file
796 * parameterize some often-changing values with SGML entities, update
797 number of available packages
798 * use new way of notating multiple copyrights
799 * change <tt> elements to <file> where appropriate
801 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Thu, 11 Feb 1999 02:53:55 -0500
803 developers-reference (2.5.0.5) unstable; urgency=low
805 * add version.ent to docdir, needed to reconstruct from SGML
808 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Tue, 29 Dec 1998 02:42:50 -0500
810 developers-reference (2.5.0.4) unstable; urgency=low
812 * not officially released
813 * more spelling corrections
814 * s/ppc/powerpc/ (thanks, James Troup)
816 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 18 Dec 1998 00:07:40 -0500
818 developers-reference (2.5.0.3) unstable; urgency=low
820 * not officially released
821 * Sec. "Removing a package from Incoming": tiny section added
822 * some PGP-centricity removed
823 * Sec. "Adopting a package": point out that hijacking packages is not ok
824 * Ch. "Non-Maintainer Uploads (NMUs) and Porters": change 'NMU' to
825 'source NMU', 'port' to 'binary NMU', shorten the window for porters a
826 tad; fix spelling; stress that non-maintainer patches must be
827 non-disruptive and that aesthetic issues are not suitable for fixing
828 by non-maintainers; other fixes as suggested by interested parties
830 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Wed, 25 Nov 1998 00:01:27 -0500
832 developers-reference (2.5.0.2) frozen unstable; urgency=low
834 * not officially released
835 * maintainer name change (but it's still me)
836 * Ch. "Non-Maintainer Uploads (NMUs) and Porters": new chapter
837 discussing NMUs and porters; Section "Interim Releases" integrated out
838 of existance. New TOC for this section is:
839 * 6 Non-Maintainer Uploads (NMUs) and Porters
840 + 6.1 Who can do a port or an NMU
841 + 6.2 When to do a port or an NMU
842 o 6.2.1 When to do an NMU if you are a porter
843 + 6.3 How to do an NMU
844 o 6.3.1 NMU version numbering
845 o 6.3.2 NMUs must create a changelog entry
846 o 6.3.3 NMUs must send patches, if any, to the BTS
847 o 6.3.4 Building the NMU
848 + 6.4 Guidelines for Porters
850 * Sec. "Maintainer changes": renamed to "Adopting a package" and moved
851 to Chapter "Moving, Removing, Renaming, Adopting, and Orphaning
853 * Sec. "Reporting lots of bugs at once": more forcefully deprecate this
855 * Sec. "Adopting a package": mention that the BTS maintainer update can
856 take a couple of weeks
857 * Sec. "Overview of Debian Maintainer Tools": give credit where credit
858 is due and attribute current maintainers; add `apt'; add `quinn-diff';
859 add mention of as yet unreleased 'buildd' package, since I'm so
860 excited about it and can't wait
861 * Sec. "Removing packages": talk about how apt-cache can be used to look
862 at reverse depends, a good step to take prior to removing a package
864 * show *full* TOC, including sect2
865 * of course the obligatory typo, grammar, and spelling corrections
867 * Makefile: small changes to accomodate DDP autobuild
868 * debian/dirs: obsolete, removed
869 * debian/rules: use changelog date for SGML timestamping, not current date
871 -- Adam Di Carlo <aph@debian.org> Fri, 20 Nov 1998 12:27:53 -0500
873 developers-reference (2.5.0) frozen unstable; urgency=low
875 * move to 3-level version number:
876 top-level version number probably won't change for a while, it is the
877 "major", the second-level number means significant content changes,
878 and the third-level change means corrections and minor improvements.
879 Since this version has significant content changes, we are now 2.5.0.
880 Since I'm going to put porter instructions in the next major rev, that
883 * use new <package> tag where appropriate (Ardo, you rock)
884 * replace 'm86k' with 'm68k'
885 * rename 'Whirlwind Tour of ...' section to 'Overview of ...' (suggested
887 * typos and "red-pen" corrections, fix cosmetic problems in PostScript
889 * remove the one case I use an URL fragment identifier, since
890 debiandoc-sgml doesn't like it (bug filed against debiandoc-sgml)
891 * debian/rules: cosmetic cleanups, loosen check for root
892 * debian/rules: build PostScript version during build, since it's nice
893 to have all my debiandoc2* scripts together
894 * debian/control: policy compliant to 2.5.0
896 * advise against uploading when a package has lintian problems of
898 * "Mailing Lists and Servers":
899 - "The master server": mention how master is the home of the BTS;
900 mention how users need to take care with their accounts on master
901 - "The WWW servers": fill in www.debian.org, first pass, and discuss
902 how to put up your own web pages on va or master
903 - "The CVS server": new section added
904 - "Mirrors of Debian servers": new section added; point to info about
906 * "Applying to Become a Maintainer": do not advise resending initial
907 application; instead, simply mail a followup asking new maintainers
908 whether they go the initial application (closes Bug #28739); mention
909 that calls usually come in the evening; mention that if you use PGP
910 v5, you need to generate an RSA key (right?); clarify our intentions
912 * "Release code names": Debian 2.2 is 'potato'
913 * "Distribution directories": give concrete examples, hopefully making
914 it clearer where to look in Debian archives for specific stuff;
915 mention that old distributions are moved to archive servers (is there
916 a canonical location?)
917 * "The override file": new section, added under "Notification that a new
918 package has been installed"; fill it out quite a bit
919 * "Uploading to *": reiterate thrice not to upload export
920 controlled-software to master, or the European queues on erlangen and
922 * "Picking a distribution": section broken out from "Generating the
924 * "Uploading to frozen": new section, almost straight from Brian White
925 (hope you don't mind!) -- isn't that topical?
926 * "Interim releases": if you NMU a new upstream version (0.1), run
927 'dpkg-buildpackage -sa'
929 -- Adam P. Harris <aph@debian.org> Thu, 12 Nov 1998 00:03:43 -0500
931 developers-reference (2.4.1.5) unstable; urgency=low
933 * Fix instructions for new maintainers, incorporating the actual text
934 sent to prospective new maintainers. Improve this text a bit for
935 readability, coverage, and organization. Significant changes were
936 patched back to the new-maintainers group, if they care to use
937 them. (closes Bug#26948)
938 * Add an introductory "Scope" chapter which helps delineate what should
939 and should not be included in this Reference.
940 * Add a new chapter, "Whirlwind Tour of Debian Maintainer Tools". Let
941 me know what useful tools I forgot -- remember, Debian-specific
942 maintainer tools only!
943 * Add discussion of the "experimental" distribution, culled from an email
944 from Guy Maor on debian-devel.
945 * Incorporated suggestions from Branden Robinson (closes Bug#27211).
946 * Point to doc-debian's mailing list instructions where relevant.
947 * Made references to online documentation into URLs where possible.
948 * Little corrections here and there.
949 * add a Makefile for use in the DDP manual hierarchy
950 * debian/rules: comment out my 'source-depends' hack; it's just slowing
953 -- Adam P. Harris <aph@debian.org> Thu, 1 Oct 1998 03:42:43 -0400
955 developers-reference (2.4.1.4) unstable; urgency=low
957 * fill in Section "The master server" a bit; other servers to follow
958 * in Section "Distribution directories", mention that distributions
959 are always in 'dists' subdir of the Debian archive; talk about
961 * in Section "Release code names", talk about 'sid' a bit
962 * in Section "Interim releases", talk about how non-maintainers should
963 use the BTS, and bug severity "fixed" (closes Bug#17524)
964 * in Section "Generating the changes file", talk about how to set the
965 distribution in the debian/changelog file (i.e., "frozen unstable")
966 * add a new Section "Checking the package prior to upload" to Section
967 "Uploading a package", mentioning lintian and other tests one should
968 do prior to uploading
969 * add new Section "Notification that a new package has been installed"
970 in Section "Uploading a package", talking about dinstall and the
972 * add new Sections "Moving packages", "Removing packages", "Replacing or
973 renaming packages", and "Orphaning a package" (closes Bug#26650)
974 * add new Section "Bugs in your packages", talking about maintainer
975 duties with respect to bugs
976 * add new Section "Lintian reports" under "Handling bugs reports",
977 talking about how maintainers should check their packages with lintian
978 every now and then, alternatively pointing them to the lintian web
980 * clarify, a bit, the use of "section" and "subsection", bringing it
981 into line with the usage in the Policy Manual and Packaging Manual
982 * grammar and markup changes throughout
983 * debian/rules: added a crude source-depends rule, which renders more
984 explicit what is used to build this package
986 -- Adam P. Harris <aph@debian.org> Mon, 21 Sep 1998 00:51:46 -0400
988 developers-reference (2.4.1.3) unstable; urgency=low
991 * version number and date are automatically populated now
992 * changed doc-base section to "debian"
993 * debian/rules: better abstraction and organization
994 * reformat SGML like I happen to like it
995 * utilize the new URL tag
996 * build PostScript on letter size, I hear thats better for A4 and US
999 -- Adam P. Harris <aph@debian.org> Thu, 16 Jul 1998 00:52:35 -0400
1001 developers-reference (2.4.1.2) frozen unstable; urgency=low
1003 * non-maintainer release
1004 * rebuilt since HTML versions of Chapters 1 and 2 were truncated
1005 (important bug, no number yet, bugs.debian.org isn't working;
1006 regardless, this should go in hamm because a broken developers
1007 reference won't win us many friends in hamm, and after all, it's just
1008 text, it can't hurt you.)
1009 * no content changes, except that the version number in the SGML file
1010 reflect this packages version number
1011 * debian/rule: clean is cleaner now
1013 -- Adam P. Harris <aph@debian.org> Tue, 16 Jun 1998 01:35:39 -0400
1015 developers-reference (2.4.1.1) frozen unstable; urgency=low
1019 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Thu, 14 May 1998 21:56:36 +0200
1021 developers-reference (2.4.1.0) frozen unstable; urgency=low
1023 * New version numbering scheme:
1025 - The version numbers are independent of dpkg now, but all policy
1026 manuals (the Debian Policy Manual, the Debian Packaging Manual, and
1027 the Debian Developer's Reference) share the same version numbering
1030 - The first three digits of the version number specify the
1031 `Standards-Version.' This number is incremented with each policy
1032 change. The fourth digit represents the `patch-level,' which may
1033 differ between the manuals.
1035 If only the patch-level digit is incremented, no changes in policy
1036 have been made, except bug fixes and clarifications. Packages only
1037 have to specify the first three digits of the version number in the
1038 `Standards-Version' field of their source packages.
1040 * Uploaded to frozen and unstable. This is a documentation-only
1041 package and the changes to the manual are relevant for hamm.
1043 * No changes to the Developer's Reference
1045 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Mon, 13 Apr 1998 17:54:43 +0200
1047 developers-reference (0.5) unstable; urgency=low
1049 * Changes to the Developer's Reference:
1051 - Changed section 1.2 Registering as a Debian developer:
1052 + signatures from formal certification service are _NOT_ accepted
1054 + images of ID documents have to be PGP or RSA signed
1055 (as requested by James Troup)
1057 - Use current date instead of <date> in manual
1059 * Updated FSF's address (reported by Lintian)
1061 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Sat, 7 Mar 1998 13:52:15 +0100
1063 developers-reference (0.4) unstable; urgency=low
1065 * Changes to the Developer's Reference:
1067 - Renamed chapter 4 into `Package uploads'
1069 - New section 4.2.5 Uploading to the non-us server
1071 - Changed section 4.4 Interim releases:
1072 + non-maintainer releases should not close bugs
1073 + normal maintainer must at least read the patch provided with
1074 the non-maintainer release
1076 - New chapter 5 Handling bug reports:
1077 + when reporting more then 10 bugs on the same topic, a message
1078 has to be sent to debian-devel and the `maintonly' address
1081 - Lots of typos fixed
1083 * Compressed SGML source code
1085 * Added support for doc-base to register the Developer's Reference
1086 to the online documentation systems dwww and dhelp
1088 * Upgraded to standards version 2.4.0.0 (no changes)
1090 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Fri, 30 Jan 1998 21:58:34 +0100
1092 developers-reference (0.3) unstable; urgency=low
1094 * Put lost sections from Policy Manual 2.1.3.3 back in:
1095 - Generating the changes file (for uploads)
1096 - Announcing package uploads
1097 * New section about Debian Mentors
1098 * debian/rules: Don't use debstd anymore
1099 * debian/rules: Compress changelog file (fixes:#15441)
1100 * Fixed link to WNPP list (fixes:#16201)
1101 * Added menu entry (fixes:#15708)
1103 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Wed, 24 Dec 1997 13:54:33 +0100
1105 developers-reference (0.2) unstable; urgency=low
1107 * New chapter about `The Debian Archive' describing the structure
1108 of our FTP server and the development process
1109 * Added note that new maintainers have to read the Social Contract
1110 and have to know where to find the Policy and Packaging Manuals
1111 * PGP key ring is not distributed via dpkg but in doc/ of the FTP
1113 * Added note that cross posting between Debian lists is depreciated
1114 * New list of advantages why new packages should be discussed on
1115 debian-devel before they are uploaded
1116 * Added section about how packages are uploaded
1117 * Added note that the Security Managers may do interim releases without
1118 contacting the maintainer
1119 * Removed chapter about bug tracking system (will be included in
1120 a new manual released soon)
1121 * Some minor changes
1122 * Include SGML source in package
1123 * Don't use `2-up' style for PostScript version
1124 * Upgraded to Standards 2.3.0.1
1126 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Sun, 2 Nov 1997 20:53:26 +0100
1128 developers-reference (0.1) unstable; urgency=low
1132 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Tue, 8 Jul 1997 00:19:49 +0200