1 # SOME DESCRIPTIVE TITLE
2 # Copyright (C) YEAR Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3 # FIRST AUTHOR <EMAIL@ADDRESS>, YEAR.
8 "Project-Id-Version: PACKAGE VERSION\n"
9 "POT-Creation-Date: 2007-07-01 21:18+0000\n"
10 "PO-Revision-Date: YEAR-MO-DA HO:MI+ZONE\n"
11 "Last-Translator: FULL NAME <EMAIL@ADDRESS>\n"
12 "Language-Team: LANGUAGE <LL@li.org>\n"
14 "Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8\n"
15 "Content-Transfer-Encoding: ENCODING\n"
17 # type: Content of: <chapter><title>
19 msgid "Managing Packages"
22 # type: Content of: <chapter><para>
25 "This chapter contains information related to creating, uploading, "
26 "maintaining, and porting packages."
29 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><title>
34 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><para>
37 "If you want to create a new package for the Debian distribution, you should "
38 "first check the <ulink url=\"&url-wnpp;\">Work-Needing and Prospective "
39 "Packages (WNPP)</ulink> list. Checking the WNPP list ensures that no one is "
40 "already working on packaging that software, and that effort is not "
41 "duplicated. Read the <ulink url=\"&url-wnpp;\">WNPP web pages</ulink> for "
45 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><para>
48 "Assuming no one else is already working on your prospective package, you "
49 "must then submit a bug report (<xref linkend=\"submit-bug\"/> ) against the "
50 "pseudo-package <systemitem role=\"package\">wnpp</systemitem> describing "
51 "your plan to create a new package, including, but not limiting yourself to, "
52 "a description of the package, the license of the prospective package, and "
53 "the current URL where it can be downloaded from."
56 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><para>
59 "You should set the subject of the bug to ``ITP: <replaceable>foo</"
60 "replaceable> -- <replaceable>short description</replaceable>'', substituting "
61 "the name of the new package for <replaceable>foo</replaceable>. The "
62 "severity of the bug report must be set to <emphasis>wishlist</emphasis>. If "
63 "you feel it's necessary, send a copy to &email-debian-devel; by putting the "
64 "address in the <literal>X-Debbugs-CC:</literal> header of the message (no, "
65 "don't use <literal>CC:</literal>, because that way the message's subject "
66 "won't indicate the bug number)."
69 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><para>
72 "Please include a <literal>Closes: bug#<replaceable>nnnnn</replaceable></"
73 "literal> entry in the changelog of the new package in order for the bug "
74 "report to be automatically closed once the new package is installed in the "
75 "archive (see <xref linkend=\"upload-bugfix\"/> )."
78 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><para>
81 "When closing security bugs include CVE numbers as well as the Closes: "
82 "#nnnnn. This is useful for the security team to track vulnerabilities. If "
83 "an upload is made to fix the bug before the advisory ID is known, it is "
84 "encouraged to modify the historical changelog entry with the next upload. "
85 "Even in this case, please include all available pointers to background "
86 "information in the original changelog entry."
89 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><para>
92 "There are a number of reasons why we ask maintainers to announce their "
96 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
99 "It helps the (potentially new) maintainer to tap into the experience of "
100 "people on the list, and lets them know if anyone else is working on it "
104 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
107 "It lets other people thinking about working on the package know that there "
108 "already is a volunteer, so efforts may be shared."
111 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
114 "It lets the rest of the maintainers know more about the package than the one "
115 "line description and the usual changelog entry ``Initial release'' that gets "
116 "posted to <literal>debian-devel-changes</literal>."
119 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
122 "It is helpful to the people who live off unstable (and form our first line "
123 "of testers). We should encourage these people."
126 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
129 "The announcements give maintainers and other interested parties a better "
130 "feel of what is going on, and what is new, in the project."
133 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><para>
136 "Please see <ulink url=\"http://&ftp-master-host;/REJECT-FAQ.html\"></ulink> "
137 "for common rejection reasons for a new package."
140 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><title>
142 msgid "Recording changes in the package"
145 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><para>
148 "Changes that you make to the package need to be recorded in the "
149 "<filename>debian/changelog</filename>. These changes should provide a "
150 "concise description of what was changed, why (if it's in doubt), and note if "
151 "any bugs were closed. They also record when the package was completed. "
152 "This file will be installed in <filename>/usr/share/doc/"
153 "<replaceable>package</replaceable>/changelog.Debian.gz</filename>, or "
154 "<filename>/usr/share/doc/<replaceable>package</replaceable>/changelog.gz</"
155 "filename> for native packages."
158 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><para>
161 "The <filename>debian/changelog</filename> file conforms to a certain "
162 "structure, with a number of different fields. One field of note, the "
163 "<emphasis>distribution</emphasis>, is described in <xref linkend="
164 "\"distribution\"/> . More information about the structure of this file can "
165 "be found in the Debian Policy section titled <filename>debian/changelog</"
169 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><para>
172 "Changelog entries can be used to automatically close Debian bugs when the "
173 "package is installed into the archive. See <xref linkend=\"upload-bugfix\"/"
177 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><para>
180 "It is conventional that the changelog entry of a package that contains a new "
181 "upstream version of the software looks like this:"
184 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><screen>
187 msgid "* new upstream version"
190 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><para>
193 "There are tools to help you create entries and finalize the "
194 "<filename>changelog</filename> for release — see <xref linkend=\"devscripts"
195 "\"/> and <xref linkend=\"dpkg-dev-el\"/> ."
198 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><para>
200 msgid "See also <xref linkend=\"bpp-debian-changelog\"/> ."
203 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><title>
205 msgid "Testing the package"
208 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><para>
211 "Before you upload your package, you should do basic testing on it. At a "
212 "minimum, you should try the following activities (you'll need to have an "
213 "older version of the same Debian package around):"
216 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
219 "Install the package and make sure the software works, or upgrade the package "
220 "from an older version to your new version if a Debian package for it already "
224 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
227 "Run <command>lintian</command> over the package. You can run "
228 "<command>lintian</command> as follows: <literal>lintian -v "
229 "<replaceable>package-version</replaceable>.changes</literal>. This will "
230 "check the source package as well as the binary package. If you don't "
231 "understand the output that <command>lintian</command> generates, try adding "
232 "the <literal>-i</literal> switch, which will cause <command>lintian</"
233 "command> to output a very verbose description of the problem."
236 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
239 "Normally, a package should <emphasis>not</emphasis> be uploaded if it causes "
240 "lintian to emit errors (they will start with <literal>E</literal>)."
243 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
246 "For more information on <command>lintian</command>, see <xref linkend="
250 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
253 "Optionally run <xref linkend=\"debdiff\"/> to analyze changes from an older "
254 "version, if one exists."
257 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
260 "Downgrade the package to the previous version (if one exists) — this tests "
261 "the <filename>postrm</filename> and <filename>prerm</filename> scripts."
264 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
266 msgid "Remove the package, then reinstall it."
269 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
272 "Copy the source package in a different directory and try unpacking it and "
273 "rebuilding it. This tests if the package relies on existing files outside "
274 "of it, or if it relies on permissions being preserved on the files shipped "
275 "inside the .diff.gz file."
278 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><title>
280 msgid "Layout of the source package"
283 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><para>
285 msgid "There are two types of Debian source packages:"
288 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
291 "the so-called <emphasis>native</emphasis> packages, where there is no "
292 "distinction between the original sources and the patches applied for Debian"
295 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
298 "the (more common) packages where there's an original source tarball file "
299 "accompanied by another file that contains the patches applied for Debian"
302 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><para>
305 "For the native packages, the source package includes a Debian source control "
306 "file (<literal>.dsc</literal>) and the source tarball (<literal>.tar.gz</"
307 "literal>). A source package of a non-native package includes a Debian "
308 "source control file, the original source tarball (<literal>.orig.tar.gz</"
309 "literal>) and the Debian patches (<literal>.diff.gz</literal>)."
312 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><para>
315 "Whether a package is native or not is determined when it is built by "
316 "<citerefentry> <refentrytitle>dpkg-buildpackage</refentrytitle> "
317 "<manvolnum>1</manvolnum> </citerefentry>. The rest of this section relates "
318 "only to non-native packages."
321 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><para>
324 "The first time a version is uploaded which corresponds to a particular "
325 "upstream version, the original source tar file should be uploaded and "
326 "included in the <filename>.changes</filename> file. Subsequently, this very "
327 "same tar file should be used to build the new diffs and <filename>.dsc</"
328 "filename> files, and will not need to be re-uploaded."
331 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><para>
334 "By default, <command>dpkg-genchanges</command> and <command>dpkg-"
335 "buildpackage</command> will include the original source tar file if and only "
336 "if the Debian revision part of the source version number is 0 or 1, "
337 "indicating a new upstream version. This behavior may be modified by using "
338 "<literal>-sa</literal> to always include it or <literal>-sd</literal> to "
339 "always leave it out."
342 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><para>
345 "If no original source is included in the upload, the original source tar-"
346 "file used by <command>dpkg-source</command> when constructing the <filename>."
347 "dsc</filename> file and diff to be uploaded <emphasis>must</emphasis> be "
348 "byte-for-byte identical with the one already in the archive."
351 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><para>
354 "Please notice that, in non-native packages, permissions on files that are "
355 "not present in the .orig.tar.gz will not be preserved, as diff does not "
356 "store file permissions in the patch."
359 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><title>
361 msgid "Picking a distribution"
364 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><para>
367 "Each upload needs to specify which distribution the package is intended "
368 "for. The package build process extracts this information from the first "
369 "line of the <filename>debian/changelog</filename> file and places it in the "
370 "<literal>Distribution</literal> field of the <literal>.changes</literal> "
374 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><para>
377 "There are several possible values for this field: `stable', `unstable', "
378 "`testing-proposed-updates' and `experimental'. Normally, packages are "
379 "uploaded into <emphasis>unstable</emphasis>."
382 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><para>
385 "Actually, there are two other possible distributions: `stable-security' and "
386 "`testing-security', but read <xref linkend=\"bug-security\"/> for more "
387 "information on those."
390 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><para>
393 "It is not possible to upload a package into several distributions at the "
397 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><title>
399 msgid "Special case: uploads to the <emphasis>stable</emphasis> distribution"
402 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
405 "Uploading to <emphasis>stable</emphasis> means that the package will "
406 "transfered to the <emphasis>p-u-new</emphasis>-queue for review by the "
407 "stable release managers, and if approved will be installed in "
408 "<filename>stable-proposed-updates</filename> directory of the Debian "
409 "archive. From there, it will be included in <emphasis>stable</emphasis> "
410 "with the next point release."
413 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
416 "Extra care should be taken when uploading to <emphasis>stable</emphasis>. "
417 "Basically, a package should only be uploaded to stable if one of the "
421 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
423 msgid "a truly critical functionality problem"
426 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
428 msgid "the package becomes uninstallable"
431 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
433 msgid "a released architecture lacks the package"
436 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
439 "In the past, uploads to <emphasis>stable</emphasis> were used to address "
440 "security problems as well. However, this practice is deprecated, as uploads "
441 "used for Debian security advisories are automatically copied to the "
442 "appropriate <filename>proposed-updates</filename> archive when the advisory "
443 "is released. See <xref linkend=\"bug-security\"/> for detailed information "
444 "on handling security problems."
447 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
450 "Changing anything else in the package that isn't important is discouraged, "
451 "because even trivial fixes can cause bugs later on."
454 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
457 "Packages uploaded to <emphasis>stable</emphasis> need to be compiled on "
458 "systems running <emphasis>stable</emphasis>, so that their dependencies are "
459 "limited to the libraries (and other packages) available in <emphasis>stable</"
460 "emphasis>; for example, a package uploaded to <emphasis>stable</emphasis> "
461 "that depends on a library package that only exists in unstable will be "
462 "rejected. Making changes to dependencies of other packages (by messing with "
463 "<literal>Provides</literal> or shlibs files), possibly making those other "
464 "packages uninstallable, is strongly discouraged."
467 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
470 "The Release Team (which can be reached at &email-debian-release;) will "
471 "regularly evaluate the uploads To <emphasis>stable-proposed-updates</"
472 "emphasis> and decide if your package can be included in <emphasis>stable</"
473 "emphasis>. Please be clear (and verbose, if necessary) in your changelog "
474 "entries for uploads to <emphasis>stable</emphasis>, because otherwise the "
475 "package won't be considered for inclusion."
478 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
481 "It's best practice to speak with the stable release manager "
482 "<emphasis>before</emphasis> uploading to <emphasis>stable</emphasis>/"
483 "<emphasis>stable-proposed-updates</emphasis>, so that the uploaded package "
484 "fits the needs of the next point release."
487 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><title>
490 "Special case: uploads to <emphasis>testing/testing-proposed-updates</"
494 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
497 "Please see the information in the <link linkend=\"t-p-u\">testing section</"
501 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><title>
503 msgid "Uploading a package"
506 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><title>
508 msgid "Uploading to <literal>ftp-master</literal>"
511 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
514 "To upload a package, you should upload the files (including the signed "
515 "changes and dsc-file) with anonymous ftp to <literal>&ftp-master-host;</"
516 "literal> in the directory <ulink url=\"ftp://&ftp-master-host;&upload-queue;"
517 "\">&upload-queue;</ulink>. To get the files processed there, they need to "
518 "be signed with a key in the debian keyring."
521 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
524 "Please note that you should transfer the changes file last. Otherwise, your "
525 "upload may be rejected because the archive maintenance software will parse "
526 "the changes file and see that not all files have been uploaded."
529 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
532 "You may also find the Debian packages <xref linkend=\"dupload\"/> or <xref "
533 "linkend=\"dput\"/> useful when uploading packages. These handy programs "
534 "help automate the process of uploading packages into Debian."
537 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
540 "For removing packages, please see the README file in that ftp directory, and "
541 "the Debian package <xref linkend=\"dcut\"/> ."
544 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><title>
546 msgid "Uploading to <literal>non-US</literal>"
549 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
552 "<emphasis>Note:</emphasis> non-us was discontinued with the release of sarge."
555 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><title>
557 msgid "Delayed uploads"
560 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
563 "Delayed uploads are done for the moment via the delayed queue at gluck. The "
564 "upload-directory is <literal>gluck:~tfheen/DELAYED/[012345678]-day</"
565 "literal>. 0-day is uploaded multiple times per day to ftp-master."
568 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
570 msgid "With a fairly recent dput, this section"
573 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><screen>
579 "fqdn = gluck.debian.org\n"
583 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
585 msgid "in ~/.dput.cf should work fine for uploading to the DELAYED queue."
588 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
591 "<emphasis>Note:</emphasis> Since this upload queue goes to <literal>ftp-"
592 "master</literal>, the prescription found in <xref linkend=\"upload-ftp-master"
593 "\"/> applies here as well."
596 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><title>
598 msgid "Security uploads"
601 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
604 "Do <emphasis role=\"strong\">NOT</emphasis> upload a package to the security "
605 "upload queue (oldstable-security, stable-security, etc.) without prior "
606 "authorization from the security team. If the package does not exactly meet "
607 "the team's requirements, it will cause many problems and delays in dealing "
608 "with the unwanted upload. For details, please see section <xref linkend="
609 "\"bug-security\"/> ."
612 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><title>
614 msgid "Other upload queues"
617 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
620 "The scp queues on ftp-master, and security are mostly unusable due to the "
621 "login restrictions on those hosts."
624 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
627 "The anonymous queues on ftp.uni-erlangen.de and ftp.uk.debian.org are "
628 "currently down. Work is underway to resurrect them."
631 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
634 "The queues on master.debian.org, samosa.debian.org, master.debian.or.jp, and "
635 "ftp.chiark.greenend.org.uk are down permanently, and will not be "
636 "resurrected. The queue in Japan will be replaced with a new queue on hp."
637 "debian.or.jp some day."
640 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
643 "For the time being, the anonymous ftp queue on auric.debian.org (the former "
644 "ftp-master) works, but it is deprecated and will be removed at some point in "
648 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><title>
650 msgid "Notification that a new package has been installed"
653 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
656 "The Debian archive maintainers are responsible for handling package "
657 "uploads. For the most part, uploads are automatically handled on a daily "
658 "basis by the archive maintenance tools, <command>katie</command>. "
659 "Specifically, updates to existing packages to the `unstable' distribution "
660 "are handled automatically. In other cases, notably new packages, placing "
661 "the uploaded package into the distribution is handled manually. When "
662 "uploads are handled manually, the change to the archive may take up to a "
663 "month to occur. Please be patient."
666 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
669 "In any case, you will receive an email notification indicating that the "
670 "package has been added to the archive, which also indicates which bugs will "
671 "be closed by the upload. Please examine this notification carefully, "
672 "checking if any bugs you meant to close didn't get triggered."
675 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
678 "The installation notification also includes information on what section the "
679 "package was inserted into. If there is a disparity, you will receive a "
680 "separate email notifying you of that. Read on below."
683 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
686 "Note that if you upload via queues, the queue daemon software will also send "
687 "you a notification by email."
690 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><title>
692 msgid "Specifying the package section, subsection and priority"
695 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><para>
698 "The <filename>debian/control</filename> file's <literal>Section</literal> "
699 "and <literal>Priority</literal> fields do not actually specify where the "
700 "file will be placed in the archive, nor its priority. In order to retain "
701 "the overall integrity of the archive, it is the archive maintainers who have "
702 "control over these fields. The values in the <filename>debian/control</"
703 "filename> file are actually just hints."
706 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><para>
709 "The archive maintainers keep track of the canonical sections and priorities "
710 "for packages in the <emphasis>override file</emphasis>. If there is a "
711 "disparity between the <emphasis>override file</emphasis> and the package's "
712 "fields as indicated in <filename>debian/control</filename>, then you will "
713 "receive an email noting the divergence when the package is installed into "
714 "the archive. You can either correct your <filename>debian/control</"
715 "filename> file for your next upload, or else you may wish to make a change "
716 "in the <emphasis>override file</emphasis>."
719 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><para>
722 "To alter the actual section that a package is put in, you need to first make "
723 "sure that the <filename>debian/control</filename> file in your package is "
724 "accurate. Next, send an email &email-override; or submit a bug against "
725 "<systemitem role=\"package\">ftp.debian.org</systemitem> requesting that the "
726 "section or priority for your package be changed from the old section or "
727 "priority to the new one. Be sure to explain your reasoning."
730 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><para>
733 "For more information about <emphasis>override files</emphasis>, see "
734 "<citerefentry> <refentrytitle>dpkg-scanpackages</refentrytitle> "
735 "<manvolnum>1</manvolnum> </citerefentry> and <ulink url=\"&url-bts-devel;"
736 "#maintincorrect\"></ulink>."
739 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><para>
742 "Note that the <literal>Section</literal> field describes both the section as "
743 "well as the subsection, which are described in <xref linkend=\"archive-"
744 "sections\"/> . If the section is main, it should be omitted. The list of "
745 "allowable subsections can be found in <ulink url=\"&url-debian-policy;ch-"
746 "archive.html#s-subsections\"></ulink>."
749 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><title>
751 msgid "Handling bugs"
754 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><para>
757 "Every developer has to be able to work with the Debian <ulink url=\"&url-bts;"
758 "\">bug tracking system</ulink>. This includes knowing how to file bug "
759 "reports properly (see <xref linkend=\"submit-bug\"/> ), how to update them "
760 "and reorder them, and how to process and close them."
763 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><para>
766 "The bug tracking system's features are described in the <ulink url=\"&url-"
767 "bts-devel;\">BTS documentation for developers</ulink>. This includes "
768 "closing bugs, sending followup messages, assigning severities and tags, "
769 "marking bugs as forwarded, and other issues."
772 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><para>
775 "Operations such as reassigning bugs to other packages, merging separate bug "
776 "reports about the same issue, or reopening bugs when they are prematurely "
777 "closed, are handled using the so-called control mail server. All of the "
778 "commands available on this server are described in the <ulink url=\"&url-bts-"
779 "control;\">BTS control server documentation</ulink>."
782 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><title>
784 msgid "Monitoring bugs"
787 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
790 "If you want to be a good maintainer, you should periodically check the "
791 "<ulink url=\"&url-bts;\">Debian bug tracking system (BTS)</ulink> for your "
792 "packages. The BTS contains all the open bugs against your packages. You "
793 "can check them by browsing this page: <literal>http://&bugs-host;/"
794 "<replaceable>yourlogin</replaceable>@debian.org</literal>."
797 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
800 "Maintainers interact with the BTS via email addresses at <literal>&bugs-host;"
801 "</literal>. Documentation on available commands can be found at <ulink url="
802 "\"&url-bts;\"></ulink>, or, if you have installed the <systemitem role="
803 "\"package\">doc-debian</systemitem> package, you can look at the local files "
807 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
810 "Some find it useful to get periodic reports on open bugs. You can add a "
811 "cron job such as the following if you want to get a weekly email outlining "
812 "all the open bugs against your packages:"
815 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><screen>
819 "# ask for weekly reports of bugs in my packages\n"
823 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
826 "Replace <replaceable>address</replaceable> with your official Debian "
827 "maintainer address."
830 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><title>
832 msgid "Responding to bugs"
835 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
838 "When responding to bugs, make sure that any discussion you have about bugs "
839 "is sent both to the original submitter of the bug, and to the bug itself (e."
840 "g., <email>123@&bugs-host;</email>). If you're writing a new mail and you "
841 "don't remember the submitter email address, you can use the <email>123-"
842 "submitter@&bugs-host;</email> email to contact the submitter <emphasis>and</"
843 "emphasis> to record your mail within the bug log (that means you don't need "
844 "to send a copy of the mail to <email>123@&bugs-host;</email>)."
847 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
850 "If you get a bug which mentions FTBFS, this means Fails to build from "
851 "source. Porters frequently use this acronym."
854 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
857 "Once you've dealt with a bug report (e.g. fixed it), mark it as "
858 "<emphasis>done</emphasis> (close it) by sending an explanation message to "
859 "<email>123-done@&bugs-host;</email>. If you're fixing a bug by changing and "
860 "uploading the package, you can automate bug closing as described in <xref "
861 "linkend=\"upload-bugfix\"/> ."
864 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
867 "You should <emphasis>never</emphasis> close bugs via the bug server "
868 "<literal>close</literal> command sent to &email-bts-control;. If you do so, "
869 "the original submitter will not receive any information about why the bug "
873 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><title>
875 msgid "Bug housekeeping"
878 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
881 "As a package maintainer, you will often find bugs in other packages or have "
882 "bugs reported against your packages which are actually bugs in other "
883 "packages. The bug tracking system's features are described in the <ulink "
884 "url=\"&url-bts-devel;\">BTS documentation for Debian developers</ulink>. "
885 "Operations such as reassigning, merging, and tagging bug reports are "
886 "described in the <ulink url=\"&url-bts-control;\">BTS control server "
887 "documentation</ulink>. This section contains some guidelines for managing "
888 "your own bugs, based on the collective Debian developer experience."
891 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
894 "Filing bugs for problems that you find in other packages is one of the civic "
895 "obligations of maintainership, see <xref linkend=\"submit-bug\"/> for "
896 "details. However, handling the bugs in your own packages is even more "
900 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
902 msgid "Here's a list of steps that you may follow to handle a bug report:"
905 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
908 "Decide whether the report corresponds to a real bug or not. Sometimes users "
909 "are just calling a program in the wrong way because they haven't read the "
910 "documentation. If you diagnose this, just close the bug with enough "
911 "information to let the user correct their problem (give pointers to the good "
912 "documentation and so on). If the same report comes up again and again you "
913 "may ask yourself if the documentation is good enough or if the program "
914 "shouldn't detect its misuse in order to give an informative error message. "
915 "This is an issue that may need to be brought up with the upstream author."
918 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
921 "If the bug submitter disagrees with your decision to close the bug, they may "
922 "reopen it until you find an agreement on how to handle it. If you don't "
923 "find any, you may want to tag the bug <literal>wontfix</literal> to let "
924 "people know that the bug exists but that it won't be corrected. If this "
925 "situation is unacceptable, you (or the submitter) may want to require a "
926 "decision of the technical committee by reassigning the bug to <systemitem "
927 "role=\"package\">tech-ctte</systemitem> (you may use the clone command of "
928 "the BTS if you wish to keep it reported against your package). Before doing "
929 "so, please read the <ulink url=\"&url-tech-ctte;\">recommended procedure</"
933 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
936 "If the bug is real but it's caused by another package, just reassign the bug "
937 "to the right package. If you don't know which package it should be "
938 "reassigned to, you should ask for help on <link linkend=\"irc-channels"
939 "\">IRC</link> or on &email-debian-devel;. Please make sure that the "
940 "maintainer(s) of the package the bug is reassigned to know why you "
944 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
947 "Sometimes you also have to adjust the severity of the bug so that it matches "
948 "our definition of the severity. That's because people tend to inflate the "
949 "severity of bugs to make sure their bugs are fixed quickly. Some bugs may "
950 "even be dropped to wishlist severity when the requested change is just "
954 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
957 "If the bug is real but the same problem has already been reported by someone "
958 "else, then the two relevant bug reports should be merged into one using the "
959 "merge command of the BTS. In this way, when the bug is fixed, all of the "
960 "submitters will be informed of this. (Note, however, that emails sent to "
961 "one bug report's submitter won't automatically be sent to the other report's "
962 "submitter.) For more details on the technicalities of the merge command and "
963 "its relative, the unmerge command, see the BTS control server documentation."
966 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
969 "The bug submitter may have forgotten to provide some information, in which "
970 "case you have to ask them for the required information. You may use the "
971 "<literal>moreinfo</literal> tag to mark the bug as such. Moreover if you "
972 "can't reproduce the bug, you tag it <literal>unreproducible</literal>. "
973 "Anyone who can reproduce the bug is then invited to provide more information "
974 "on how to reproduce it. After a few months, if this information has not "
975 "been sent by someone, the bug may be closed."
978 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
981 "If the bug is related to the packaging, you just fix it. If you are not "
982 "able to fix it yourself, then tag the bug as <literal>help</literal>. You "
983 "can also ask for help on &email-debian-devel; or &email-debian-qa;. If it's "
984 "an upstream problem, you have to forward it to the upstream author. "
985 "Forwarding a bug is not enough, you have to check at each release if the bug "
986 "has been fixed or not. If it has, you just close it, otherwise you have to "
987 "remind the author about it. If you have the required skills you can prepare "
988 "a patch that fixes the bug and send it to the author at the same time. Make "
989 "sure to send the patch to the BTS and to tag the bug as <literal>patch</"
993 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
996 "If you have fixed a bug in your local copy, or if a fix has been committed "
997 "to the CVS repository, you may tag the bug as <literal>pending</literal> to "
998 "let people know that the bug is corrected and that it will be closed with "
999 "the next upload (add the <literal>closes:</literal> in the "
1000 "<filename>changelog</filename>). This is particularly useful if you are "
1001 "several developers working on the same package."
1004 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
1007 "Once a corrected package is available in the <emphasis>unstable</emphasis> "
1008 "distribution, you can close the bug. This can be done automatically, read "
1009 "<xref linkend=\"upload-bugfix\"/> ."
1012 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><title>
1014 msgid "When bugs are closed by new uploads"
1017 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
1020 "As bugs and problems are fixed in your packages, it is your responsibility "
1021 "as the package maintainer to close these bugs. However, you should not "
1022 "close a bug until the package which fixes the bug has been accepted into the "
1023 "Debian archive. Therefore, once you get notification that your updated "
1024 "package has been installed into the archive, you can and should close the "
1025 "bug in the BTS. Also, the bug should be closed with the correct version."
1028 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
1031 "However, it's possible to avoid having to manually close bugs after the "
1032 "upload — just list the fixed bugs in your <filename>debian/changelog</"
1033 "filename> file, following a certain syntax, and the archive maintenance "
1034 "software will close the bugs for you. For example:"
1037 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><screen>
1041 "acme-cannon (3.1415) unstable; urgency=low\n"
1043 " * Frobbed with options (closes: Bug#98339)\n"
1044 " * Added safety to prevent operator dismemberment, closes: bug#98765,\n"
1045 " bug#98713, #98714.\n"
1046 " * Added man page. Closes: #98725."
1049 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
1052 "Technically speaking, the following Perl regular expression describes how "
1053 "bug closing changelogs are identified:"
1056 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><screen>
1059 msgid "/closes:\\s*(?:bug)?\\#\\s*\\d+(?:,\\s*(?:bug)?\\#\\s*\\d+)*/ig"
1062 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
1065 "We prefer the <literal>closes: #<replaceable>XXX</replaceable></literal> "
1066 "syntax, as it is the most concise entry and the easiest to integrate with "
1067 "the text of the <filename>changelog</filename>. Unless specified different "
1068 "by the <replaceable>-v</replaceable>-switch to <command>dpkg-buildpackage</"
1069 "command>, only the bugs closed in the most recent changelog entry are closed "
1070 "(basically, exactly the bugs mentioned in the changelog-part in the "
1071 "<filename>.changes</filename> file are closed)."
1074 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
1077 "Historically, uploads identified as <link linkend=\"nmu\">Non-maintainer "
1078 "upload (NMU)</link> were tagged <literal>fixed</literal> instead of being "
1079 "closed, but that practice was ceased with the advent of version-tracking. "
1080 "The same applied to the tag <literal>fixed-in-experimental</literal>."
1083 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
1086 "If you happen to mistype a bug number or forget a bug in the changelog "
1087 "entries, don't hesitate to undo any damage the error caused. To reopen "
1088 "wrongly closed bugs, send a <literal>reopen <replaceable>XXX</replaceable></"
1089 "literal> command to the bug tracking system's control address, &email-bts-"
1090 "control;. To close any remaining bugs that were fixed by your upload, email "
1091 "the <filename>.changes</filename> file to <email>XXX-done@&bugs-host;</"
1092 "email>, where <replaceable>XXX</replaceable> is the bug number, and put "
1093 "Version: YYY and an empty line as the first two lines of the body of the "
1094 "email, where <replaceable>YYY</replaceable> is the first version where the "
1095 "bug has been fixed."
1098 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
1101 "Bear in mind that it is not obligatory to close bugs using the changelog as "
1102 "described above. If you simply want to close bugs that don't have anything "
1103 "to do with an upload you made, do it by emailing an explanation to "
1104 "<email>XXX-done@&bugs-host;</email>. Do <emphasis role=\"strong\">not</"
1105 "emphasis> close bugs in the changelog entry of a version if the changes in "
1106 "that version of the package don't have any bearing on the bug."
1109 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
1112 "For general information on how to write your changelog entries, see <xref "
1113 "linkend=\"bpp-debian-changelog\"/> ."
1116 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><title>
1118 msgid "Handling security-related bugs"
1121 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
1124 "Due to their sensitive nature, security-related bugs must be handled "
1125 "carefully. The Debian Security Team exists to coordinate this activity, "
1126 "keeping track of outstanding security problems, helping maintainers with "
1127 "security problems or fixing them themselves, sending security advisories, "
1128 "and maintaining security.debian.org."
1131 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
1134 "When you become aware of a security-related bug in a Debian package, whether "
1135 "or not you are the maintainer, collect pertinent information about the "
1136 "problem, and promptly contact the security team at &email-security-team; as "
1137 "soon as possible. <emphasis role=\"strong\">DO NOT UPLOAD</emphasis> any "
1138 "packages for stable; the security team will do that. Useful information "
1139 "includes, for example:"
1142 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
1145 "Which versions of the package are known to be affected by the bug. Check "
1146 "each version that is present in a supported Debian release, as well as "
1147 "testing and unstable."
1150 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
1153 "The nature of the fix, if any is available (patches are especially helpful)"
1156 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
1159 "Any fixed packages that you have prepared yourself (send only the <literal>."
1160 "diff.gz</literal> and <literal>.dsc</literal> files and read <xref linkend="
1161 "\"bug-security-building\"/> first)"
1164 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
1167 "Any assistance you can provide to help with testing (exploits, regression "
1171 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
1174 "Any information needed for the advisory (see <xref linkend=\"bug-security-"
1178 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><title>
1180 msgid "Confidentiality"
1183 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
1186 "Unlike most other activities within Debian, information about security "
1187 "issues must sometimes be kept private for a time. This allows software "
1188 "distributors to coordinate their disclosure in order to minimize their "
1189 "users' exposure. Whether this is the case depends on the nature of the "
1190 "problem and corresponding fix, and whether it is already a matter of public "
1194 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
1196 msgid "There are several ways developers can learn of a security problem:"
1199 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
1201 msgid "they notice it on a public forum (mailing list, web site, etc.)"
1204 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
1206 msgid "someone files a bug report"
1209 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
1211 msgid "someone informs them via private email"
1214 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
1217 "In the first two cases, the information is public and it is important to "
1218 "have a fix as soon as possible. In the last case, however, it might not be "
1219 "public information. In that case there are a few possible options for "
1220 "dealing with the problem:"
1223 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
1226 "If the security exposure is minor, there is sometimes no need to keep the "
1227 "problem a secret and a fix should be made and released."
1230 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
1233 "If the problem is severe, it is preferable to share the information with "
1234 "other vendors and coordinate a release. The security team keeps in contact "
1235 "with the various organizations and individuals and can take care of that."
1238 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
1241 "In all cases if the person who reports the problem asks that it not be "
1242 "disclosed, such requests should be honored, with the obvious exception of "
1243 "informing the security team in order that a fix may be produced for a stable "
1244 "release of Debian. When sending confidential information to the security "
1245 "team, be sure to mention this fact."
1248 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
1251 "Please note that if secrecy is needed you may not upload a fix to unstable "
1252 "(or anywhere else, such as a public CVS repository). It is not sufficient "
1253 "to obfuscate the details of the change, as the code itself is public, and "
1254 "can (and will) be examined by the general public."
1257 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
1260 "There are two reasons for releasing information even though secrecy is "
1261 "requested: the problem has been known for a while, or the problem or exploit "
1262 "has become public."
1265 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><title>
1267 msgid "Security Advisories"
1270 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
1273 "Security advisories are only issued for the current, released stable "
1274 "distribution, and <emphasis>not</emphasis> for testing or unstable. When "
1275 "released, advisories are sent to the &email-debian-security-announce; "
1276 "mailing list and posted on <ulink url=\"&url-debian-security-advisories;"
1277 "\">the security web page</ulink>. Security advisories are written and "
1278 "posted by the security team. However they certainly do not mind if a "
1279 "maintainer can supply some of the information for them, or write part of the "
1280 "text. Information that should be in an advisory includes:"
1283 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
1285 msgid "A description of the problem and its scope, including:"
1288 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
1290 msgid "The type of problem (privilege escalation, denial of service, etc.)"
1293 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
1295 msgid "What privileges may be gained, and by whom (if any)"
1298 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
1300 msgid "How it can be exploited"
1303 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
1305 msgid "Whether it is remotely or locally exploitable"
1308 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
1310 msgid "How the problem was fixed"
1313 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
1315 msgid "This information allows users to assess the threat to their systems."
1318 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
1320 msgid "Version numbers of affected packages"
1323 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
1325 msgid "Version numbers of fixed packages"
1328 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
1331 "Information on where to obtain the updated packages (usually from the Debian "
1335 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
1338 "References to upstream advisories, <ulink url=\"http://cve.mitre.org\">CVE</"
1339 "ulink> identifiers, and any other information useful in cross-referencing "
1343 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><title>
1345 msgid "Preparing packages to address security issues"
1348 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
1351 "One way that you can assist the security team in their duties is to provide "
1352 "them with fixed packages suitable for a security advisory for the stable "
1356 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
1359 "When an update is made to the stable release, care must be taken to avoid "
1360 "changing system behavior or introducing new bugs. In order to do this, make "
1361 "as few changes as possible to fix the bug. Users and administrators rely on "
1362 "the exact behavior of a release once it is made, so any change that is made "
1363 "might break someone's system. This is especially true of libraries: make "
1364 "sure you never change the API or ABI, no matter how small the change."
1367 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
1370 "This means that moving to a new upstream version is not a good solution. "
1371 "Instead, the relevant changes should be back-ported to the version present "
1372 "in the current stable Debian release. Generally, upstream maintainers are "
1373 "willing to help if needed. If not, the Debian security team may be able to "
1377 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
1380 "In some cases, it is not possible to back-port a security fix, for example "
1381 "when large amounts of source code need to be modified or rewritten. If this "
1382 "happens, it may be necessary to move to a new upstream version. However, "
1383 "this is only done in extreme situations, and you must always coordinate that "
1384 "with the security team beforehand."
1387 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
1390 "Related to this is another important guideline: always test your changes. "
1391 "If you have an exploit available, try it and see if it indeed succeeds on "
1392 "the unpatched package and fails on the fixed package. Test other, normal "
1393 "actions as well, as sometimes a security fix can break seemingly unrelated "
1394 "features in subtle ways."
1397 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
1400 "Do <emphasis role=\"strong\">NOT</emphasis> include any changes in your "
1401 "package which are not directly related to fixing the vulnerability. These "
1402 "will only need to be reverted, and this wastes time. If there are other "
1403 "bugs in your package that you would like to fix, make an upload to proposed-"
1404 "updates in the usual way, after the security advisory is issued. The "
1405 "security update mechanism is not a means for introducing changes to your "
1406 "package which would otherwise be rejected from the stable release, so please "
1407 "do not attempt to do this."
1410 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
1413 "Review and test your changes as much as possible. Check the differences "
1414 "from the previous version repeatedly (<command>interdiff</command> from the "
1415 "<systemitem role=\"package\">patchutils</systemitem> package and "
1416 "<command>debdiff</command> from <systemitem role=\"package\">devscripts</"
1417 "systemitem> are useful tools for this, see <xref linkend=\"debdiff\"/> )."
1420 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
1422 msgid "Be sure to verify the following items:"
1425 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
1428 "Target the right distribution in your <filename>debian/changelog</"
1429 "filename>. For stable this is <literal>stable-security</literal> and for "
1430 "testing this is <literal>testing-security</literal>, and for the previous "
1431 "stable release, this is <literal>oldstable-security</literal>. Do not "
1432 "target <replaceable>distribution</replaceable>-proposed-updates or "
1433 "<literal>stable</literal>!"
1436 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
1438 msgid "The upload should have urgency=high."
1441 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
1444 "Make descriptive, meaningful changelog entries. Others will rely on them to "
1445 "determine whether a particular bug was fixed. Always include an external "
1446 "reference, preferably a CVE identifier, so that it can be cross-referenced. "
1447 "Include the same information in the changelog for unstable, so that it is "
1448 "clear that the same bug was fixed, as this is very helpful when verifying "
1449 "that the bug is fixed in the next stable release. If a CVE identifier has "
1450 "not yet been assigned, the security team will request one so that it can be "
1451 "included in the package and in the advisory."
1454 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
1457 "Make sure the version number is proper. It must be greater than the current "
1458 "package, but less than package versions in later distributions. If in "
1459 "doubt, test it with <literal>dpkg --compare-versions</literal>. Be careful "
1460 "not to re-use a version number that you have already used for a previous "
1461 "upload. For <emphasis>testing</emphasis>, there must be a higher version in "
1462 "<emphasis>unstable</emphasis>. If there is none yet (for example, if "
1463 "<emphasis>testing</emphasis> and <emphasis>unstable</emphasis> have the same "
1464 "version) you must upload a new version to unstable first."
1467 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
1470 "Do not make source-only uploads if your package has any binary-all packages "
1471 "(do not use the <literal>-S</literal> option to <command>dpkg-buildpackage</"
1472 "command>). The <command>buildd</command> infrastructure will not build "
1473 "those. This point applies to normal package uploads as well."
1476 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
1479 "Unless the upstream source has been uploaded to security.debian.org before "
1480 "(by a previous security update), build the upload with full upstream source "
1481 "(<literal>dpkg-buildpackage -sa</literal>). If there has been a previous "
1482 "upload to security.debian.org with the same upstream version, you may upload "
1483 "without upstream source (<literal>dpkg-buildpackage -sd</literal>)."
1486 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
1489 "Be sure to use the exact same <filename>*.orig.tar.gz</filename> as used in "
1490 "the normal archive, otherwise it is not possible to move the security fix "
1491 "into the main archives later."
1494 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
1497 "Build the package on a clean system which only has packages installed from "
1498 "the distribution you are building for. If you do not have such a system "
1499 "yourself, you can use a debian.org machine (see <xref linkend=\"server-"
1500 "machines\"/> ) or setup a chroot (see <xref linkend=\"pbuilder\"/> and <xref "
1501 "linkend=\"debootstrap\"/> )."
1504 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><title>
1506 msgid "Uploading the fixed package"
1509 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
1512 "Do <emphasis role=\"strong\">NOT</emphasis> upload a package to the security "
1513 "upload queue (oldstable-security, stable-security, etc.) without prior "
1514 "authorization from the security team. If the package does not exactly meet "
1515 "the team's requirements, it will cause many problems and delays in dealing "
1516 "with the unwanted upload."
1519 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
1522 "Do <emphasis role=\"strong\">NOT</emphasis> upload your fix to proposed-"
1523 "updates without coordinating with the security team. Packages from security."
1524 "debian.org will be copied into the proposed-updates directory "
1525 "automatically. If a package with the same or a higher version number is "
1526 "already installed into the archive, the security update will be rejected by "
1527 "the archive system. That way, the stable distribution will end up without a "
1528 "security update for this package instead."
1531 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
1534 "Once you have created and tested the new package and it has been approved by "
1535 "the security team, it needs to be uploaded so that it can be installed in "
1536 "the archives. For security uploads, the place to upload to is "
1537 "<literal>ftp://security-master.debian.org/pub/SecurityUploadQueue/</"
1541 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
1544 "Once an upload to the security queue has been accepted, the package will "
1545 "automatically be rebuilt for all architectures and stored for verification "
1546 "by the security team."
1549 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
1552 "Uploads which are waiting for acceptance or verification are only accessible "
1553 "by the security team. This is necessary since there might be fixes for "
1554 "security problems that cannot be disclosed yet."
1557 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
1560 "If a member of the security team accepts a package, it will be installed on "
1561 "security.debian.org as well as proposed for the proper "
1562 "<replaceable>distribution</replaceable>-proposed-updates on ftp-master."
1565 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><title>
1567 msgid "Moving, removing, renaming, adopting, and orphaning packages"
1570 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><para>
1573 "Some archive manipulation operations are not automated in the Debian upload "
1574 "process. These procedures should be manually followed by maintainers. This "
1575 "chapter gives guidelines on what to do in these cases."
1578 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><title>
1580 msgid "Moving packages"
1583 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para><footnote>
1586 "Sometimes a package will change its section. For instance, a package from "
1587 "the `non-free' section might be GPL'd in a later version, in which case the "
1588 "package should be moved to `main' or `contrib'.<footnote>"
1591 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para><footnote><para>
1594 "See the <ulink url=\"&url-debian-policy;\">Debian Policy Manual</ulink> for "
1595 "guidelines on what section a package belongs in."
1598 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
1601 "If you need to change the section for one of your packages, change the "
1602 "package control information to place the package in the desired section, and "
1603 "re-upload the package (see the <ulink url=\"&url-debian-policy;\">Debian "
1604 "Policy Manual</ulink> for details). You must ensure that you include the "
1605 "<filename>.orig.tar.gz</filename> in your upload (even if you are not "
1606 "uploading a new upstream version), or it will not appear in the new section "
1607 "together with the rest of the package. If your new section is valid, it "
1608 "will be moved automatically. If it does not, then contact the ftpmasters in "
1609 "order to understand what happened."
1612 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
1615 "If, on the other hand, you need to change the <emphasis>subsection</"
1616 "emphasis> of one of your packages (e.g., ``devel'', ``admin''), the "
1617 "procedure is slightly different. Correct the subsection as found in the "
1618 "control file of the package, and re-upload that. Also, you'll need to get "
1619 "the override file updated, as described in <xref linkend=\"override-file\"/"
1623 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><title>
1625 msgid "Removing packages"
1628 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
1631 "If for some reason you want to completely remove a package (say, if it is an "
1632 "old compatibility library which is no longer required), you need to file a "
1633 "bug against <literal>ftp.debian.org</literal> asking that the package be "
1634 "removed; as all bugs, this bug should normally have normal severity. Make "
1635 "sure you indicate which distribution the package should be removed from. "
1636 "Normally, you can only have packages removed from <emphasis>unstable</"
1637 "emphasis> and <emphasis>experimental</emphasis>. Packages are not removed "
1638 "from <emphasis>testing</emphasis> directly. Rather, they will be removed "
1639 "automatically after the package has been removed from <emphasis>unstable</"
1640 "emphasis> and no package in <emphasis>testing</emphasis> depends on it."
1643 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
1646 "There is one exception when an explicit removal request is not necessary: If "
1647 "a (source or binary) package is an orphan, it will be removed semi-"
1648 "automatically. For a binary-package, this means if there is no longer any "
1649 "source package producing this binary package; if the binary package is just "
1650 "no longer produced on some architectures, a removal request is still "
1651 "necessary. For a source-package, this means that all binary packages it "
1652 "refers to have been taken over by another source package."
1655 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
1658 "In your removal request, you have to detail the reasons justifying the "
1659 "request. This is to avoid unwanted removals and to keep a trace of why a "
1660 "package has been removed. For example, you can provide the name of the "
1661 "package that supersedes the one to be removed."
1664 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
1667 "Usually you only ask for the removal of a package maintained by yourself. "
1668 "If you want to remove another package, you have to get the approval of its "
1672 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
1675 "Further information relating to these and other package removal related "
1676 "topics may be found at <ulink url=\"http://wiki.debian.org/ftpmaster_Removals"
1677 "\"></ulink> and <ulink url=\"&url-debian-qa;howto-remove.html\"></ulink>."
1680 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
1683 "If in doubt concerning whether a package is disposable, email &email-debian-"
1684 "devel; asking for opinions. Also of interest is the <command>apt-cache</"
1685 "command> program from the <systemitem role=\"package\">apt</systemitem> "
1686 "package. When invoked as <literal>apt-cache showpkg <replaceable>package</"
1687 "replaceable></literal>, the program will show details for "
1688 "<replaceable>package</replaceable>, including reverse depends. Other useful "
1689 "programs include <literal>apt-cache rdepends</literal>, <command>apt-"
1690 "rdepends</command> and <command>grep-dctrl</command>. Removal of orphaned "
1691 "packages is discussed on &email-debian-qa;."
1694 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
1697 "Once the package has been removed, the package's bugs should be handled. "
1698 "They should either be reassigned to another package in the case where the "
1699 "actual code has evolved into another package (e.g. <literal>libfoo12</"
1700 "literal> was removed because <literal>libfoo13</literal> supersedes it) or "
1701 "closed if the software is simply no longer part of Debian."
1704 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><title>
1706 msgid "Removing packages from <filename>Incoming</filename>"
1709 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
1712 "In the past, it was possible to remove packages from <filename>incoming</"
1713 "filename>. However, with the introduction of the new incoming system, this "
1714 "is no longer possible. Instead, you have to upload a new revision of your "
1715 "package with a higher version than the package you want to replace. Both "
1716 "versions will be installed in the archive but only the higher version will "
1717 "actually be available in <emphasis>unstable</emphasis> since the previous "
1718 "version will immediately be replaced by the higher. However, if you do "
1719 "proper testing of your packages, the need to replace a package should not "
1720 "occur too often anyway."
1723 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><title>
1725 msgid "Replacing or renaming packages"
1728 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
1731 "When you make a mistake naming your package, you should follow a two-step "
1732 "process to rename it. First, set your <filename>debian/control</filename> "
1733 "file to replace and conflict with the obsolete name of the package (see the "
1734 "<ulink url=\"&url-debian-policy;\">Debian Policy Manual</ulink> for "
1735 "details). Once you've uploaded the package and the package has moved into "
1736 "the archive, file a bug against <literal>ftp.debian.org</literal> asking to "
1737 "remove the package with the obsolete name. Do not forget to properly "
1738 "reassign the package's bugs at the same time."
1741 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
1744 "At other times, you may make a mistake in constructing your package and wish "
1745 "to replace it. The only way to do this is to increase the version number "
1746 "and upload a new version. The old version will be expired in the usual "
1747 "manner. Note that this applies to each part of your package, including the "
1748 "sources: if you wish to replace the upstream source tarball of your package, "
1749 "you will need to upload it with a different version. An easy possibility is "
1750 "to replace <filename>foo_1.00.orig.tar.gz</filename> with <filename>foo_1.00"
1751 "+0.orig.tar.gz</filename>. This restriction gives each file on the ftp site "
1752 "a unique name, which helps to ensure consistency across the mirror network."
1755 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><title>
1757 msgid "Orphaning a package"
1760 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
1763 "If you can no longer maintain a package, you need to inform others, and see "
1764 "that the package is marked as orphaned. You should set the package "
1765 "maintainer to <literal>Debian QA Group &orphan-address;</literal> and submit "
1766 "a bug report against the pseudo package <systemitem role=\"package\">wnpp</"
1767 "systemitem>. The bug report should be titled <literal>O: "
1768 "<replaceable>package</replaceable> -- <replaceable>short description</"
1769 "replaceable></literal> indicating that the package is now orphaned. The "
1770 "severity of the bug should be set to <emphasis>normal</emphasis>; if the "
1771 "package has a priority of standard or higher, it should be set to "
1772 "important. If you feel it's necessary, send a copy to &email-debian-devel; "
1773 "by putting the address in the X-Debbugs-CC: header of the message (no, don't "
1774 "use CC:, because that way the message's subject won't indicate the bug "
1778 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
1781 "If you just intend to give the package away, but you can keep maintainership "
1782 "for the moment, then you should instead submit a bug against <systemitem "
1783 "role=\"package\">wnpp</systemitem> and title it <literal>RFA: "
1784 "<replaceable>package</replaceable> -- <replaceable>short description</"
1785 "replaceable></literal>. <literal>RFA</literal> stands for <emphasis>Request "
1786 "For Adoption</emphasis>."
1789 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
1792 "More information is on the <ulink url=\"&url-wnpp;\">WNPP web pages</ulink>."
1795 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><title>
1797 msgid "Adopting a package"
1800 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
1803 "A list of packages in need of a new maintainer is available in the <ulink "
1804 "url=\"&url-wnpp;\">Work-Needing and Prospective Packages list (WNPP)</"
1805 "ulink>. If you wish to take over maintenance of any of the packages listed "
1806 "in the WNPP, please take a look at the aforementioned page for information "
1810 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
1813 "It is not OK to simply take over a package that you feel is neglected — that "
1814 "would be package hijacking. You can, of course, contact the current "
1815 "maintainer and ask them if you may take over the package. If you have "
1816 "reason to believe a maintainer has gone AWOL (absent without leave), see "
1817 "<xref linkend=\"mia-qa\"/> ."
1820 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
1823 "Generally, you may not take over the package without the assent of the "
1824 "current maintainer. Even if they ignore you, that is still not grounds to "
1825 "take over a package. Complaints about maintainers should be brought up on "
1826 "the developers' mailing list. If the discussion doesn't end with a positive "
1827 "conclusion, and the issue is of a technical nature, consider bringing it to "
1828 "the attention of the technical committee (see the <ulink url=\"&url-tech-"
1829 "ctte;\">technical committee web page</ulink> for more information)."
1832 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
1835 "If you take over an old package, you probably want to be listed as the "
1836 "package's official maintainer in the bug system. This will happen "
1837 "automatically once you upload a new version with an updated "
1838 "<literal>Maintainer:</literal> field, although it can take a few hours after "
1839 "the upload is done. If you do not expect to upload a new version for a "
1840 "while, you can use <xref linkend=\"pkg-tracking-system\"/> to get the bug "
1841 "reports. However, make sure that the old maintainer has no problem with the "
1842 "fact that they will continue to receive the bugs during that time."
1845 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><title>
1847 msgid "Porting and being ported"
1850 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><para>
1853 "Debian supports an ever-increasing number of architectures. Even if you are "
1854 "not a porter, and you don't use any architecture but one, it is part of your "
1855 "duty as a maintainer to be aware of issues of portability. Therefore, even "
1856 "if you are not a porter, you should read most of this chapter."
1859 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><para>
1862 "Porting is the act of building Debian packages for architectures that are "
1863 "different from the original architecture of the package maintainer's binary "
1864 "package. It is a unique and essential activity. In fact, porters do most "
1865 "of the actual compiling of Debian packages. For instance, for a single "
1866 "<emphasis>i386</emphasis> binary package, there must be a recompile for each "
1867 "architecture, which amounts to &number-of-arches; more builds."
1870 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><title>
1872 msgid "Being kind to porters"
1875 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
1878 "Porters have a difficult and unique task, since they are required to deal "
1879 "with a large volume of packages. Ideally, every source package should build "
1880 "right out of the box. Unfortunately, this is often not the case. This "
1881 "section contains a checklist of ``gotchas'' often committed by Debian "
1882 "maintainers — common problems which often stymie porters, and make their "
1883 "jobs unnecessarily difficult."
1886 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
1889 "The first and most important thing is to respond quickly to bug or issues "
1890 "raised by porters. Please treat porters with courtesy, as if they were in "
1891 "fact co-maintainers of your package (which, in a way, they are). Please be "
1892 "tolerant of succinct or even unclear bug reports; do your best to hunt down "
1893 "whatever the problem is."
1896 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
1899 "By far, most of the problems encountered by porters are caused by "
1900 "<emphasis>packaging bugs</emphasis> in the source packages. Here is a "
1901 "checklist of things you should check or be aware of."
1904 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
1907 "Make sure that your <literal>Build-Depends</literal> and <literal>Build-"
1908 "Depends-Indep</literal> settings in <filename>debian/control</filename> are "
1909 "set properly. The best way to validate this is to use the <systemitem role="
1910 "\"package\">debootstrap</systemitem> package to create an unstable chroot "
1911 "environment (see <xref linkend=\"debootstrap\"/> ). Within that chrooted "
1912 "environment, install the <systemitem role=\"package\">build-essential</"
1913 "systemitem> package and any package dependencies mentioned in <literal>Build-"
1914 "Depends</literal> and/or <literal>Build-Depends-Indep</literal>. Finally, "
1915 "try building your package within that chrooted environment. These steps can "
1916 "be automated by the use of the <command>pbuilder</command> program which is "
1917 "provided by the package of the same name (see <xref linkend=\"pbuilder\"/> )."
1920 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
1923 "If you can't set up a proper chroot, <command>dpkg-depcheck</command> may be "
1924 "of assistance (see <xref linkend=\"dpkg-depcheck\"/> )."
1927 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
1930 "See the <ulink url=\"&url-debian-policy;\">Debian Policy Manual</ulink> for "
1931 "instructions on setting build dependencies."
1934 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
1937 "Don't set architecture to a value other than ``all'' or ``any'' unless you "
1938 "really mean it. In too many cases, maintainers don't follow the "
1939 "instructions in the <ulink url=\"&url-debian-policy;\">Debian Policy Manual</"
1940 "ulink>. Setting your architecture to ``i386'' is usually incorrect."
1943 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
1946 "Make sure your source package is correct. Do <literal>dpkg-source -x "
1947 "<replaceable>package</replaceable>.dsc</literal> to make sure your source "
1948 "package unpacks properly. Then, in there, try building your package from "
1949 "scratch with <command>dpkg-buildpackage</command>."
1952 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
1955 "Make sure you don't ship your source package with the <filename>debian/"
1956 "files</filename> or <filename>debian/substvars</filename> files. They "
1957 "should be removed by the `clean' target of <filename>debian/rules</filename>."
1960 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
1963 "Make sure you don't rely on locally installed or hacked configurations or "
1964 "programs. For instance, you should never be calling programs in <filename>/"
1965 "usr/local/bin</filename> or the like. Try not to rely on programs being "
1966 "setup in a special way. Try building your package on another machine, even "
1967 "if it's the same architecture."
1970 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
1973 "Don't depend on the package you're building being installed already (a sub-"
1974 "case of the above issue)."
1977 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
1980 "Don't rely on the compiler being a certain version, if possible. If not, "
1981 "then make sure your build dependencies reflect the restrictions, although "
1982 "you are probably asking for trouble, since different architectures sometimes "
1983 "standardize on different compilers."
1986 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
1989 "Make sure your debian/rules contains separate ``binary-arch'' and ``binary-"
1990 "indep'' targets, as the Debian Policy Manual requires. Make sure that both "
1991 "targets work independently, that is, that you can call the target without "
1992 "having called the other before. To test this, try to run <literal>dpkg-"
1993 "buildpackage -B</literal>."
1996 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><title>
1998 msgid "Guidelines for porter uploads"
2001 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
2004 "If the package builds out of the box for the architecture to be ported to, "
2005 "you are in luck and your job is easy. This section applies to that case; it "
2006 "describes how to build and upload your binary package so that it is properly "
2007 "installed into the archive. If you do have to patch the package in order to "
2008 "get it to compile for the other architecture, you are actually doing a "
2009 "source NMU, so consult <xref linkend=\"nmu-guidelines\"/> instead."
2012 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
2015 "For a porter upload, no changes are being made to the source. You do not "
2016 "need to touch any of the files in the source package. This includes "
2017 "<filename>debian/changelog</filename>."
2020 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
2023 "The way to invoke <command>dpkg-buildpackage</command> is as <literal>dpkg-"
2024 "buildpackage -B -m<replaceable>porter-email</replaceable></literal>. Of "
2025 "course, set <replaceable>porter-email</replaceable> to your email address. "
2026 "This will do a binary-only build of only the architecture-dependent portions "
2027 "of the package, using the `binary-arch' target in <filename>debian/rules</"
2031 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
2034 "If you are working on a Debian machine for your porting efforts and you need "
2035 "to sign your upload locally for its acceptance in the archive, you can run "
2036 "<command>debsign</command> on your <filename>.changes</filename> file to "
2037 "have it signed conveniently, or use the remote signing mode of <command>dpkg-"
2041 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><title>
2043 msgid "Recompilation or binary-only NMU"
2046 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
2049 "Sometimes the initial porter upload is problematic because the environment "
2050 "in which the package was built was not good enough (outdated or obsolete "
2051 "library, bad compiler, ...). Then you may just need to recompile it in an "
2052 "updated environment. However, you have to bump the version number in this "
2053 "case, so that the old bad package can be replaced in the Debian archive "
2054 "(<command>katie</command> refuses to install new packages if they don't have "
2055 "a version number greater than the currently available one)."
2058 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
2061 "You have to make sure that your binary-only NMU doesn't render the package "
2062 "uninstallable. This could happen when a source package generates arch-"
2063 "dependent and arch-independent packages that depend on each other via "
2064 "$(Source-Version)."
2067 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
2070 "Despite the required modification of the changelog, these are called binary-"
2071 "only NMUs — there is no need in this case to trigger all other architectures "
2072 "to consider themselves out of date or requiring recompilation."
2075 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
2078 "Such recompilations require special ``magic'' version numbering, so that the "
2079 "archive maintenance tools recognize that, even though there is a new Debian "
2080 "version, there is no corresponding source update. If you get this wrong, "
2081 "the archive maintainers will reject your upload (due to lack of "
2082 "corresponding source code)."
2085 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para><footnote>
2088 "The ``magic'' for a recompilation-only NMU is triggered by using a suffix "
2089 "appended to the package version number, following the form b<number>. "
2090 "For instance, if the latest version you are recompiling against was version "
2091 "``2.9-3'', your NMU should carry a version of ``2.9-3+b1''. If the latest "
2092 "version was ``3.4+b1'' (i.e, a native package with a previous recompilation "
2093 "NMU), your NMU should have a version number of ``3.4+b2''. <footnote>"
2096 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para><footnote><para>
2099 "In the past, such NMUs used the third-level number on the Debian part of the "
2100 "revision to denote their recompilation-only status; however, this syntax was "
2101 "ambiguous with native packages and did not allow proper ordering of "
2102 "recompile-only NMUs, source NMUs, and security NMUs on the same package, and "
2103 "has therefore been abandoned in favor of this new syntax."
2106 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
2109 "Similar to initial porter uploads, the correct way of invoking <command>dpkg-"
2110 "buildpackage</command> is <literal>dpkg-buildpackage -B</literal> to only "
2111 "build the architecture-dependent parts of the package."
2114 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><title>
2116 msgid "When to do a source NMU if you are a porter"
2119 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
2122 "Porters doing a source NMU generally follow the guidelines found in <xref "
2123 "linkend=\"nmu\"/> , just like non-porters. However, it is expected that the "
2124 "wait cycle for a porter's source NMU is smaller than for a non-porter, since "
2125 "porters have to cope with a large quantity of packages. Again, the "
2126 "situation varies depending on the distribution they are uploading to. It "
2127 "also varies whether the architecture is a candidate for inclusion into the "
2128 "next stable release; the release managers decide and announce which "
2129 "architectures are candidates."
2132 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
2135 "If you are a porter doing an NMU for `unstable', the above guidelines for "
2136 "porting should be followed, with two variations. Firstly, the acceptable "
2137 "waiting period — the time between when the bug is submitted to the BTS and "
2138 "when it is OK to do an NMU — is seven days for porters working on the "
2139 "unstable distribution. This period can be shortened if the problem is "
2140 "critical and imposes hardship on the porting effort, at the discretion of "
2141 "the porter group. (Remember, none of this is Policy, just mutually agreed "
2142 "upon guidelines.) For uploads to stable or testing, please coordinate with "
2143 "the appropriate release team first."
2146 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
2149 "Secondly, porters doing source NMUs should make sure that the bug they "
2150 "submit to the BTS should be of severity `serious' or greater. This ensures "
2151 "that a single source package can be used to compile every supported Debian "
2152 "architecture by release time. It is very important that we have one version "
2153 "of the binary and source package for all architecture in order to comply "
2154 "with many licenses."
2157 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
2160 "Porters should try to avoid patches which simply kludge around bugs in the "
2161 "current version of the compile environment, kernel, or libc. Sometimes such "
2162 "kludges can't be helped. If you have to kludge around compiler bugs and the "
2163 "like, make sure you <literal>#ifdef</literal> your work properly; also, "
2164 "document your kludge so that people know to remove it once the external "
2165 "problems have been fixed."
2168 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
2171 "Porters may also have an unofficial location where they can put the results "
2172 "of their work during the waiting period. This helps others running the port "
2173 "have the benefit of the porter's work, even during the waiting period. Of "
2174 "course, such locations have no official blessing or status, so buyer beware."
2177 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><title>
2179 msgid "Porting infrastructure and automation"
2182 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
2185 "There is infrastructure and several tools to help automate package porting. "
2186 "This section contains a brief overview of this automation and porting to "
2187 "these tools; see the package documentation or references for full "
2191 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><title>
2193 msgid "Mailing lists and web pages"
2196 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
2199 "Web pages containing the status of each port can be found at <ulink url="
2200 "\"&url-debian-ports;\"></ulink>."
2203 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
2206 "Each port of Debian has a mailing list. The list of porting mailing lists "
2207 "can be found at <ulink url=\"&url-debian-port-lists;\"></ulink>. These "
2208 "lists are used to coordinate porters, and to connect the users of a given "
2209 "port with the porters."
2212 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><title>
2214 msgid "Porter tools"
2217 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
2220 "Descriptions of several porting tools can be found in <xref linkend=\"tools-"
2224 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
2227 "The <systemitem role=\"package\">buildd</systemitem> system is used as a "
2228 "distributed, client-server build distribution system. It is usually used in "
2229 "conjunction with <emphasis>auto-builders</emphasis>, which are ``slave'' "
2230 "hosts which simply check out and attempt to auto-build packages which need "
2231 "to be ported. There is also an email interface to the system, which allows "
2232 "porters to ``check out'' a source package (usually one which cannot yet be "
2233 "auto-built) and work on it."
2236 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
2239 "<systemitem role=\"package\">buildd</systemitem> is not yet available as a "
2240 "package; however, most porting efforts are either using it currently or "
2241 "planning to use it in the near future. The actual automated builder is "
2242 "packaged as <systemitem role=\"package\">sbuild</systemitem>, see its "
2243 "description in <xref linkend=\"sbuild\"/> . The complete <systemitem role="
2244 "\"package\">buildd</systemitem> system also collects a number of as yet "
2245 "unpackaged components which are currently very useful and in use "
2246 "continually, such as <command>andrea</command> and <command>wanna-build</"
2250 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
2253 "Some of the data produced by <systemitem role=\"package\">buildd</"
2254 "systemitem> which is generally useful to porters is available on the web at "
2255 "<ulink url=\"&url-buildd;\"></ulink>. This data includes nightly updated "
2256 "information from <command>andrea</command> (source dependencies) and "
2257 "<systemitem role=\"package\">quinn-diff</systemitem> (packages needing "
2261 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
2264 "We are quite proud of this system, since it has so many possible uses. "
2265 "Independent development groups can use the system for different sub-flavors "
2266 "of Debian, which may or may not really be of general interest (for instance, "
2267 "a flavor of Debian built with <command>gcc</command> bounds checking). It "
2268 "will also enable Debian to recompile entire distributions quickly."
2271 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
2274 "The buildds admins of each arch can be contacted at the mail address "
2275 "$arch@buildd.debian.org."
2278 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><title>
2280 msgid "When your package is <emphasis>not</emphasis> portable"
2283 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
2286 "Some packages still have issues with building and/or working on some of the "
2287 "architectures supported by Debian, and cannot be ported at all, or not "
2288 "within a reasonable amount of time. An example is a package that is SVGA-"
2289 "specific (only i386), or uses other hardware-specific features not supported "
2290 "on all architectures."
2293 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
2296 "In order to prevent broken packages from being uploaded to the archive, and "
2297 "wasting buildd time, you need to do a few things:"
2300 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
2303 "First, make sure your package <emphasis>does</emphasis> fail to build on "
2304 "architectures that it cannot support. There are a few ways to achieve "
2305 "this. The preferred way is to have a small testsuite during build time that "
2306 "will test the functionality, and fail if it doesn't work. This is a good "
2307 "idea anyway, as this will prevent (some) broken uploads on all "
2308 "architectures, and also will allow the package to build as soon as the "
2309 "required functionality is available."
2312 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
2315 "Additionally, if you believe the list of supported architectures is pretty "
2316 "constant, you should change 'any' to a list of supported architectures in "
2317 "debian/control. This way, the build will fail also, and indicate this to a "
2318 "human reader without actually trying."
2321 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
2324 "In order to prevent autobuilders from needlessly trying to build your "
2325 "package, it must be included in <filename>packages-arch-specific</filename>, "
2326 "a list used by the <command>wanna-build</command> script. The current "
2327 "version is available as <ulink url=\"&url-cvsweb;srcdep/Packages-arch-"
2328 "specific?cvsroot=dak\"></ulink>; please see the top of the file for whom to "
2329 "contact for changes."
2332 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
2335 "Please note that it is insufficient to only add your package to Packages-"
2336 "arch-specific without making it fail to build on unsupported architectures: "
2337 "A porter or any other person trying to build your package might accidently "
2338 "upload it without noticing it doesn't work. If in the past some binary "
2339 "packages were uploaded on unsupported architectures, request their removal "
2340 "by filing a bug against <systemitem role=\"package\">ftp.debian.org</"
2344 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><title>
2346 msgid "Non-Maintainer Uploads (NMUs)"
2349 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><para>
2352 "Under certain circumstances it is necessary for someone other than the "
2353 "official package maintainer to make a release of a package. This is called "
2354 "a non-maintainer upload, or NMU."
2357 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><para>
2360 "This section handles only source NMUs, i.e. NMUs which upload a new version "
2361 "of the package. For binary-only NMUs by porters or QA members, please see "
2362 "<xref linkend=\"binary-only-nmu\"/> . If a buildd builds and uploads a "
2363 "package, that too is strictly speaking a binary NMU. See <xref linkend="
2364 "\"buildd\"/> for some more information."
2367 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><para>
2370 "The main reason why NMUs are done is when a developer needs to fix another "
2371 "developer's package in order to address serious problems or crippling bugs "
2372 "or when the package maintainer is unable to release a fix in a timely "
2376 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><para>
2379 "First and foremost, it is critical that NMU patches to source should be as "
2380 "non-disruptive as possible. Do not do housekeeping tasks, do not change the "
2381 "name of modules or files, do not move directories; in general, do not fix "
2382 "things which are not broken. Keep the patch as small as possible. If "
2383 "things bother you aesthetically, talk to the Debian maintainer, talk to the "
2384 "upstream maintainer, or submit a bug. However, aesthetic changes must "
2385 "<emphasis>not</emphasis> be made in a non-maintainer upload."
2388 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><para>
2391 "And please remember the Hippocratic Oath: Above all, do no harm. It is "
2392 "better to leave a package with an open grave bug than applying a non-"
2393 "functional patch, or one that hides the bug instead of resolving it."
2396 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><title>
2398 msgid "How to do a NMU"
2401 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
2404 "NMUs which fix important, serious or higher severity bugs are encouraged and "
2405 "accepted. You should endeavor to reach the current maintainer of the "
2406 "package; they might be just about to upload a fix for the problem, or have a "
2410 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
2413 "NMUs should be made to assist a package's maintainer in resolving bugs. "
2414 "Maintainers should be thankful for that help, and NMUers should respect the "
2415 "decisions of maintainers, and try to personally help the maintainer by their "
2419 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
2422 "A NMU should follow all conventions, written down in this section. For an "
2423 "upload to testing or unstable, this order of steps is recommended:"
2426 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
2429 "Make sure that the package's bugs that the NMU is meant to address are all "
2430 "filed in the Debian Bug Tracking System (BTS). If they are not, submit them "
2434 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
2437 "Wait a few days for the response from the maintainer. If you don't get any "
2438 "response, you may want to help them by sending the patch that fixes the "
2439 "bug. Don't forget to tag the bug with the patch keyword."
2442 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
2445 "Wait a few more days. If you still haven't got an answer from the "
2446 "maintainer, send them a mail announcing your intent to NMU the package. "
2447 "Prepare an NMU as described in this section, and test it carefully on your "
2448 "machine (cf. <xref linkend=\"sanitycheck\"/> ). Double check that your "
2449 "patch doesn't have any unexpected side effects. Make sure your patch is as "
2450 "small and as non-disruptive as it can be."
2453 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
2456 "Upload your package to incoming in <filename>DELAYED/7-day</filename> (cf. "
2457 "<xref linkend=\"delayed-incoming\"/> ), send the final patch to the "
2458 "maintainer via the BTS, and explain to them that they have 7 days to react "
2459 "if they want to cancel the NMU."
2462 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
2465 "Follow what happens, you're responsible for any bug that you introduced with "
2466 "your NMU. You should probably use <xref linkend=\"pkg-tracking-system\"/> "
2467 "(PTS) to stay informed of the state of the package after your NMU."
2470 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
2473 "At times, the release manager or an organized group of developers can "
2474 "announce a certain period of time in which the NMU rules are relaxed. This "
2475 "usually involves shortening the period during which one is to wait before "
2476 "uploading the fixes, and shortening the DELAYED period. It is important to "
2477 "notice that even in these so-called bug squashing party times, the NMU'er "
2478 "has to file bugs and contact the developer first, and act later. Please see "
2479 "<xref linkend=\"qa-bsp\"/> for details."
2482 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
2485 "For the testing distribution, the rules may be changed by the release "
2486 "managers. Please take additional care, and acknowledge that the usual way "
2487 "for a package to enter testing is through unstable."
2490 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
2493 "For the stable distribution, please take extra care. Of course, the release "
2494 "managers may also change the rules here. Please verify before you upload "
2495 "that all your changes are OK for inclusion into the next stable release by "
2496 "the release manager."
2499 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
2502 "When a security bug is detected, the security team may do an NMU, using "
2503 "their own rules. Please refer to <xref linkend=\"bug-security\"/> for more "
2507 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
2510 "For the differences for Porters NMUs, please see <xref linkend=\"source-nmu-"
2514 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
2517 "Of course, it is always possible to agree on special rules with a maintainer "
2518 "(like the maintainer asking please upload this fix directly for me, and no "
2522 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><title>
2524 msgid "NMU version numbering"
2527 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
2530 "Whenever you have made a change to a package, no matter how trivial, the "
2531 "version number needs to change. This enables our packing system to function."
2534 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
2537 "If you are doing a non-maintainer upload (NMU), you should add a new minor "
2538 "version number to the <replaceable>debian-revision</replaceable> part of the "
2539 "version number (the portion after the last hyphen). This extra minor number "
2540 "will start at `1'. For example, consider the package `foo', which is at "
2541 "version 1.1-3. In the archive, the source package control file would be "
2542 "<filename>foo_1.1-3.dsc</filename>. The upstream version is `1.1' and the "
2543 "Debian revision is `3'. The next NMU would add a new minor number `.1' to "
2544 "the Debian revision; the new source control file would be <filename>foo_1.1-"
2545 "3.1.dsc</filename>."
2548 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
2551 "The Debian revision minor number is needed to avoid stealing one of the "
2552 "package maintainer's version numbers, which might disrupt their work. It "
2553 "also has the benefit of making it visually clear that a package in the "
2554 "archive was not made by the official maintainer."
2557 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
2560 "If there is no <replaceable>debian-revision</replaceable> component in the "
2561 "version number then one should be created, starting at `0.1' (but in case of "
2562 "a debian native package still upload it as native package). If it is "
2563 "absolutely necessary for someone other than the usual maintainer to make a "
2564 "release based on a new upstream version then the person making the release "
2565 "should start with the <replaceable>debian-revision</replaceable> value "
2566 "`0.1'. The usual maintainer of a package should start their "
2567 "<replaceable>debian-revision</replaceable> numbering at `1'."
2570 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
2573 "If you upload a package to testing or stable, sometimes, you need to fork "
2574 "the version number tree. For this, version numbers like 1.1-3sarge0.1 could "
2578 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><title>
2580 msgid "Source NMUs must have a new changelog entry"
2583 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
2586 "Anyone who is doing a source NMU must create a changelog entry, describing "
2587 "which bugs are fixed by the NMU, and generally why the NMU was required and "
2588 "what it fixed. The changelog entry will have the email address of the "
2589 "person who uploaded it in the log entry and the NMU version number in it."
2592 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
2594 msgid "By convention, source NMU changelog entries start with the line"
2597 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><screen>
2600 msgid "* Non-maintainer upload"
2603 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><title>
2605 msgid "Source NMUs and the Bug Tracking System"
2608 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
2611 "Maintainers other than the official package maintainer should make as few "
2612 "changes to the package as possible, and they should always send a patch as a "
2613 "unified context diff (<literal>diff -u</literal>) detailing their changes to "
2614 "the Bug Tracking System."
2617 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
2620 "What if you are simply recompiling the package? If you just need to "
2621 "recompile it for a single architecture, then you may do a binary-only NMU as "
2622 "described in <xref linkend=\"binary-only-nmu\"/> which doesn't require any "
2623 "patch to be sent. If you want the package to be recompiled for all "
2624 "architectures, then you do a source NMU as usual and you will have to send a "
2628 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
2631 "Bugs fixed by source NMUs used to be tagged fixed instead of closed, but "
2632 "since version tracking is in place, such bugs are now also closed with the "
2636 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
2639 "Also, after doing an NMU, you have to send the information to the existing "
2640 "bugs that are fixed by your NMU, including the unified diff. Historically, "
2641 "it was custom to open a new bug and include a patch showing all the changes "
2642 "you have made. The normal maintainer will either apply the patch or employ "
2643 "an alternate method of fixing the problem. Sometimes bugs are fixed "
2644 "independently upstream, which is another good reason to back out an NMU's "
2645 "patch. If the maintainer decides not to apply the NMU's patch but to "
2646 "release a new version, the maintainer needs to ensure that the new upstream "
2647 "version really fixes each problem that was fixed in the non-maintainer "
2651 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
2654 "In addition, the normal maintainer should <emphasis>always</emphasis> retain "
2655 "the entry in the changelog file documenting the non-maintainer upload -- and "
2656 "of course, also keep the changes. If you revert some of the changes, please "
2657 "reopen the relevant bug reports."
2660 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><title>
2662 msgid "Building source NMUs"
2665 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
2668 "Source NMU packages are built normally. Pick a distribution using the same "
2669 "rules as found in <xref linkend=\"distribution\"/> , follow the other "
2670 "instructions in <xref linkend=\"upload\"/> ."
2673 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
2676 "Make sure you do <emphasis>not</emphasis> change the value of the maintainer "
2677 "in the <filename>debian/control</filename> file. Your name as given in the "
2678 "NMU entry of the <filename>debian/changelog</filename> file will be used for "
2679 "signing the changes file."
2682 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><title>
2684 msgid "Acknowledging an NMU"
2687 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
2690 "If one of your packages has been NMU'ed, you have to incorporate the changes "
2691 "in your copy of the sources. This is easy, you just have to apply the patch "
2692 "that has been sent to you. Once this is done, you have to close the bugs "
2693 "that have been tagged fixed by the NMU. The easiest way is to use the "
2694 "<literal>-v</literal> option of <command>dpkg-buildpackage</command>, as "
2695 "this allows you to include just all changes since your last maintainer "
2696 "upload. Alternatively, you can close them manually by sending the required "
2697 "mails to the BTS or by adding the required <literal>closes: #nnnn</literal> "
2698 "in the changelog entry of your next upload."
2701 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
2704 "In any case, you should not be upset by the NMU. An NMU is not a personal "
2705 "attack against the maintainer. It is a proof that someone cares enough "
2706 "about the package that they were willing to help you in your work, so you "
2707 "should be thankful. You may also want to ask them if they would be "
2708 "interested in helping you on a more frequent basis as co-maintainer or "
2709 "backup maintainer (see <xref linkend=\"collaborative-maint\"/> )."
2712 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><title>
2714 msgid "NMU vs QA uploads"
2717 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
2720 "Unless you know the maintainer is still active, it is wise to check the "
2721 "package to see if it has been orphaned. The current list of orphaned "
2722 "packages which haven't had their maintainer set correctly is available at "
2723 "<ulink url=\"&url-debian-qa-orphaned;\"></ulink>. If you perform an NMU on "
2724 "an improperly orphaned package, please set the maintainer to <literal>Debian "
2725 "QA Group <packages@qa.debian.org></literal>."
2728 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><title>
2730 msgid "Who can do an NMU"
2733 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
2736 "Only official, registered Debian Developers can do binary or source NMUs. A "
2737 "Debian Developer is someone who has their key in the Debian key ring. Non-"
2738 "developers, however, are encouraged to download the source package and start "
2739 "hacking on it to fix problems; however, rather than doing an NMU, they "
2740 "should just submit worthwhile patches to the Bug Tracking System. "
2741 "Maintainers almost always appreciate quality patches and bug reports."
2744 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><title>
2749 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
2752 "There are two new terms used throughout this section: ``binary-only NMU'' "
2753 "and ``source NMU''. These terms are used with specific technical meaning "
2754 "throughout this document. Both binary-only and source NMUs are similar, "
2755 "since they involve an upload of a package by a developer who is not the "
2756 "official maintainer of that package. That is why it's a <emphasis>non-"
2757 "maintainer</emphasis> upload."
2760 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
2763 "A source NMU is an upload of a package by a developer who is not the "
2764 "official maintainer, for the purposes of fixing a bug in the package. "
2765 "Source NMUs always involves changes to the source (even if it is just a "
2766 "change to <filename>debian/changelog</filename>). This can be either a "
2767 "change to the upstream source, or a change to the Debian bits of the "
2768 "source. Note, however, that source NMUs may also include architecture-"
2769 "dependent packages, as well as an updated Debian diff."
2772 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
2775 "A binary-only NMU is a recompilation and upload of a binary package for a "
2776 "given architecture. As such, it is usually part of a porting effort. A "
2777 "binary-only NMU is a non-maintainer uploaded binary version of a package, "
2778 "with no source changes required. There are many cases where porters must "
2779 "fix problems in the source in order to get them to compile for their target "
2780 "architecture; that would be considered a source NMU rather than a binary-"
2781 "only NMU. As you can see, we don't distinguish in terminology between "
2782 "porter NMUs and non-porter NMUs."
2785 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
2788 "Both classes of NMUs, source and binary-only, can be lumped under the term "
2789 "``NMU''. However, this often leads to confusion, since most people think "
2790 "``source NMU'' when they think ``NMU''. So it's best to be careful: always "
2791 "use ``binary NMU'' or ``binNMU'' for binary-only NMUs."
2794 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><title>
2796 msgid "Collaborative maintenance"
2799 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><para>
2802 "Collaborative maintenance is a term describing the sharing of Debian package "
2803 "maintenance duties by several people. This collaboration is almost always a "
2804 "good idea, since it generally results in higher quality and faster bug fix "
2805 "turnaround times. It is strongly recommended that packages with a priority "
2806 "of <literal>Standard</literal> or which are part of the base set have co-"
2810 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><para>
2813 "Generally there is a primary maintainer and one or more co-maintainers. The "
2814 "primary maintainer is the person whose name is listed in the "
2815 "<literal>Maintainer</literal> field of the <filename>debian/control</"
2816 "filename> file. Co-maintainers are all the other maintainers."
2819 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><para>
2822 "In its most basic form, the process of adding a new co-maintainer is quite "
2826 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
2829 "Setup the co-maintainer with access to the sources you build the package "
2830 "from. Generally this implies you are using a network-capable version "
2831 "control system, such as <command>CVS</command> or <command>Subversion</"
2832 "command>. Alioth (see <xref linkend=\"alioth\"/> ) provides such tools, "
2836 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
2839 "Add the co-maintainer's correct maintainer name and address to the "
2840 "<literal>Uploaders</literal> field in the global part of the "
2841 "<filename>debian/control</filename> file."
2844 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><itemizedlist><listitem><screen>
2847 msgid "Uploaders: John Buzz <jbuzz@debian.org>, Adam Rex <arex@debian.org>"
2850 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
2853 "Using the PTS (<xref linkend=\"pkg-tracking-system\"/> ), the co-maintainers "
2854 "should subscribe themselves to the appropriate source package."
2857 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><para>
2860 "Another form of collaborative maintenance is team maintenance, which is "
2861 "recommended if you maintain several packages with the same group of "
2862 "developers. In that case, the Maintainer and Uploaders field of each "
2863 "package must be managed with care. It is recommended to choose between one "
2864 "of the two following schemes:"
2867 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
2870 "Put the team member mainly responsible for the package in the Maintainer "
2871 "field. In the Uploaders, put the mailing list address, and the team members "
2872 "who care for the package."
2875 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
2878 "Put the mailing list address in the Maintainer field. In the Uploaders "
2879 "field, put the team members who care for the package. In this case, you "
2880 "must make sure the mailing list accept bug reports without any human "
2881 "interaction (like moderation for non-subscribers)."
2884 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><para>
2887 "In any case, it is a bad idea to automatically put all team members in the "
2888 "Uploaders field. It clutters the Developer's Package Overview listing (see "
2889 "<xref linkend=\"ddpo\"/> ) with packages one doesn't really care for, and "
2890 "creates a false sense of good maintenance."
2893 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><title>
2895 msgid "The testing distribution"
2898 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><title>
2903 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
2906 "Packages are usually installed into the `testing' distribution after they "
2907 "have undergone some degree of testing in unstable."
2910 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
2913 "They must be in sync on all architectures and mustn't have dependencies that "
2914 "make them uninstallable; they also have to have generally no known release-"
2915 "critical bugs at the time they're installed into testing. This way, "
2916 "`testing' should always be close to being a release candidate. Please see "
2917 "below for details."
2920 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><title>
2922 msgid "Updates from unstable"
2925 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
2928 "The scripts that update the <emphasis>testing</emphasis> distribution are "
2929 "run each day after the installation of the updated packages; these scripts "
2930 "are called <emphasis>britney</emphasis>. They generate the "
2931 "<filename>Packages</filename> files for the <emphasis>testing</emphasis> "
2932 "distribution, but they do so in an intelligent manner; they try to avoid any "
2933 "inconsistency and to use only non-buggy packages."
2936 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
2939 "The inclusion of a package from <emphasis>unstable</emphasis> is conditional "
2943 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
2946 "The package must have been available in <emphasis>unstable</emphasis> for 2, "
2947 "5 or 10 days, depending on the urgency (high, medium or low). Please note "
2948 "that the urgency is sticky, meaning that the highest urgency uploaded since "
2949 "the previous testing transition is taken into account. Those delays may be "
2950 "doubled during a freeze, or testing transitions may be switched off "
2954 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
2957 "It must have the same number or fewer release-critical bugs than the version "
2958 "currently available in <emphasis>testing</emphasis>;"
2961 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
2964 "It must be available on all architectures on which it has previously been "
2965 "built in unstable. <xref linkend=\"madison\"/> may be of interest to check "
2969 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
2972 "It must not break any dependency of a package which is already available in "
2973 "<emphasis>testing</emphasis>;"
2976 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
2979 "The packages on which it depends must either be available in "
2980 "<emphasis>testing</emphasis> or they must be accepted into "
2981 "<emphasis>testing</emphasis> at the same time (and they will be if they "
2982 "fulfill all the necessary criteria);"
2985 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
2988 "To find out whether a package is progressing into testing or not, see the "
2989 "testing script output on the <ulink url=\"&url-testing-maint;\">web page of "
2990 "the testing distribution</ulink>, or use the program <command>grep-excuses</"
2991 "command> which is in the <systemitem role=\"package\">devscripts</"
2992 "systemitem> package. This utility can easily be used in a <citerefentry> "
2993 "<refentrytitle>crontab</refentrytitle> <manvolnum>5</manvolnum> </"
2994 "citerefentry> to keep yourself informed of the progression of your packages "
2995 "into <emphasis>testing</emphasis>."
2998 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
3001 "The <filename>update_excuses</filename> file does not always give the "
3002 "precise reason why the package is refused; you may have to find it on your "
3003 "own by looking for what would break with the inclusion of the package. The "
3004 "<ulink url=\"&url-testing-maint;\">testing web page</ulink> gives some more "
3005 "information about the usual problems which may be causing such troubles."
3008 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
3011 "Sometimes, some packages never enter <emphasis>testing</emphasis> because "
3012 "the set of inter-relationship is too complicated and cannot be sorted out by "
3013 "the scripts. See below for details."
3016 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
3019 "Some further dependency analysis is shown on <ulink url=\"http://bjorn.haxx."
3020 "se/debian/\"></ulink> — but be warned, this page also shows build "
3021 "dependencies which are not considered by britney."
3024 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><title>
3029 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
3030 #. FIXME: better rename this file than document rampant professionalism?
3033 "For the testing migration script, outdated means: There are different "
3034 "versions in unstable for the release architectures (except for the "
3035 "architectures in fuckedarches; fuckedarches is a list of architectures that "
3036 "don't keep up (in update_out.py), but currently, it's empty). outdated has "
3037 "nothing whatsoever to do with the architectures this package has in testing."
3040 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
3042 msgid "Consider this example:"
3045 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><informaltable><tgroup><thead><row><entry>
3046 #: pkgs.dbk:2284 pkgs.dbk:2315
3050 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><informaltable><tgroup><thead><row><entry>
3051 #: pkgs.dbk:2285 pkgs.dbk:2316
3055 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><informaltable><tgroup><thead><row><entry>
3056 #: pkgs.dbk:2290 pkgs.dbk:2322 pkgs.dbk:2382
3060 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
3061 #: pkgs.dbk:2291 pkgs.dbk:2296 pkgs.dbk:2323 pkgs.dbk:2324 pkgs.dbk:2331
3065 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
3066 #: pkgs.dbk:2292 pkgs.dbk:2325 pkgs.dbk:2330
3070 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><informaltable><tgroup><thead><row><entry>
3071 #: pkgs.dbk:2295 pkgs.dbk:2328 pkgs.dbk:2383
3075 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
3076 #: pkgs.dbk:2297 pkgs.dbk:2329
3080 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
3083 "The package is out of date on alpha in unstable, and will not go to "
3084 "testing. And removing foo from testing would not help at all, the package "
3085 "is still out of date on alpha, and will not propagate to testing."
3088 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
3090 msgid "However, if ftp-master removes a package in unstable (here on arm):"
3093 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><informaltable><tgroup><thead><row><entry>
3098 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
3101 "In this case, the package is up to date on all release architectures in "
3102 "unstable (and the extra hurd-i386 doesn't matter, as it's not a release "
3106 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
3109 "Sometimes, the question is raised if it is possible to allow packages in "
3110 "that are not yet built on all architectures: No. Just plainly no. (Except "
3111 "if you maintain glibc or so.)"
3114 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><title>
3116 msgid "Removals from testing"
3119 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
3122 "Sometimes, a package is removed to allow another package in: This happens "
3123 "only to allow <emphasis>another</emphasis> package to go in if it's ready in "
3124 "every other sense. Suppose e.g. that <emphasis>a</emphasis> cannot be "
3125 "installed with the new version of <emphasis>b</emphasis>; then <emphasis>a</"
3126 "emphasis> may be removed to allow <emphasis>b</emphasis> in."
3129 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
3132 "Of course, there is another reason to remove a package from testing: It's "
3133 "just too buggy (and having a single RC-bug is enough to be in this state)."
3136 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
3139 "Furthermore, if a package has been removed from unstable, and no package in "
3140 "testing depends on it any more, then it will automatically be removed."
3143 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><title>
3145 msgid "circular dependencies"
3148 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
3151 "A situation which is not handled very well by britney is if package "
3152 "<emphasis>a</emphasis> depends on the new version of package <emphasis>b</"
3153 "emphasis>, and vice versa."
3156 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
3158 msgid "An example of this is:"
3161 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
3166 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
3168 msgid "1; depends: b=1"
3171 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
3173 msgid "2; depends: b=2"
3176 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
3181 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
3183 msgid "1; depends: a=1"
3186 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
3188 msgid "2; depends: a=2"
3191 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
3194 "Neither package <emphasis>a</emphasis> nor package <emphasis>b</emphasis> is "
3195 "considered for update."
3198 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
3201 "Currently, this requires some manual hinting from the release team. Please "
3202 "contact them by sending mail to &email-debian-release; if this happens to "
3203 "one of your packages."
3206 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><title>
3208 msgid "influence of package in testing"
3211 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
3214 "Generally, there is nothing that the status of a package in testing means "
3215 "for transition of the next version from unstable to testing, with two "
3216 "exceptions: If the RC-bugginess of the package goes down, it may go in even "
3217 "if it is still RC-buggy. The second exception is if the version of the "
3218 "package in testing is out of sync on the different arches: Then any arch "
3219 "might just upgrade to the version of the source package; however, this can "
3220 "happen only if the package was previously forced through, the arch is in "
3221 "fuckedarches, or there was no binary package of that arch present in "
3222 "unstable at all during the testing migration."
3225 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
3228 "In summary this means: The only influence that a package being in testing "
3229 "has on a new version of the same package is that the new version might go in "
3233 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><title>
3238 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
3240 msgid "If you are interested in details, this is how britney works:"
3243 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
3246 "The packages are looked at to determine whether they are valid candidates. "
3247 "This gives the update excuses. The most common reasons why a package is not "
3248 "considered are too young, RC-bugginess, and out of date on some arches. For "
3249 "this part of britney, the release managers have hammers of various sizes to "
3250 "force britney to consider a package. (Also, the base freeze is coded in "
3251 "that part of britney.) (There is a similar thing for binary-only updates, "
3252 "but this is not described here. If you're interested in that, please peruse "
3256 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
3259 "Now, the more complex part happens: Britney tries to update testing with the "
3260 "valid candidates; first, each package alone, and then larger and even larger "
3261 "sets of packages together. Each try is accepted if testing is not more "
3262 "uninstallable after the update than before. (Before and after this part, "
3263 "some hints are processed; but as only release masters can hint, this is "
3264 "probably not so important for you.)"
3267 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
3270 "If you want to see more details, you can look it up on merkel:/org/&ftp-"
3271 "debian-org;/testing/update_out/ (or there in ~aba/testing/update_out to see "
3272 "a setup with a smaller packages file). Via web, it's at <ulink url=\"http://"
3273 "&ftp-master-host;/testing/update_out_code/\"></ulink>"
3276 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
3279 "The hints are available via <ulink url=\"http://&ftp-master-host;/testing/"
3280 "hints/\"></ulink>."
3283 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><title>
3285 msgid "Direct updates to testing"
3288 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
3291 "The testing distribution is fed with packages from unstable according to the "
3292 "rules explained above. However, in some cases, it is necessary to upload "
3293 "packages built only for testing. For that, you may want to upload to "
3294 "<emphasis>testing-proposed-updates</emphasis>."
3297 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
3300 "Keep in mind that packages uploaded there are not automatically processed, "
3301 "they have to go through the hands of the release manager. So you'd better "
3302 "have a good reason to upload there. In order to know what a good reason is "
3303 "in the release managers' eyes, you should read the instructions that they "
3304 "regularly give on &email-debian-devel-announce;."
3307 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
3310 "You should not upload to <emphasis>testing-proposed-updates</emphasis> when "
3311 "you can update your packages through <emphasis>unstable</emphasis>. If you "
3312 "can't (for example because you have a newer development version in "
3313 "unstable), you may use this facility, but it is recommended that you ask for "
3314 "authorization from the release manager first. Even if a package is frozen, "
3315 "updates through unstable are possible, if the upload via unstable does not "
3316 "pull in any new dependencies."
3319 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
3322 "Version numbers are usually selected by adding the codename of the testing "
3323 "distribution and a running number, like 1.2sarge1 for the first upload "
3324 "through testing-proposed-updates of package version 1.2."
3327 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><para>
3329 msgid "Please make sure you didn't miss any of these items in your upload:"
3332 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
3335 "Make sure that your package really needs to go through <emphasis>testing-"
3336 "proposed-updates</emphasis>, and can't go through unstable;"
3339 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
3341 msgid "Make sure that you included only the minimal amount of changes;"
3344 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
3347 "Make sure that you included an appropriate explanation in the changelog;"
3350 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
3353 "Make sure that you've written <emphasis>testing</emphasis> or "
3354 "<emphasis>testing-proposed-updates</emphasis> into your target distribution;"
3357 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
3360 "Make sure that you've built and tested your package in <emphasis>testing</"
3361 "emphasis>, not in <emphasis>unstable</emphasis>;"
3364 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
3367 "Make sure that your version number is higher than the version in "
3368 "<emphasis>testing</emphasis> and <emphasis>testing-proposed-updates</"
3369 "emphasis>, and lower than in <emphasis>unstable</emphasis>;"
3372 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
3375 "After uploading and successful build on all platforms, contact the release "
3376 "team at &email-debian-release; and ask them to approve your upload."
3379 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><title>
3381 msgid "Frequently asked questions"
3384 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><title>
3386 msgid "What are release-critical bugs, and how do they get counted?"
3389 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
3392 "All bugs of some higher severities are by default considered release-"
3393 "critical; currently, these are critical, grave, and serious bugs."
3396 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
3399 "Such bugs are presumed to have an impact on the chances that the package "
3400 "will be released with the stable release of Debian: in general, if a package "
3401 "has open release-critical bugs filed on it, it won't get into testing, and "
3402 "consequently won't be released in stable."
3405 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
3408 "The unstable bug count are all release-critical bugs without either any "
3409 "release-tag (such as potato, woody) or with release-tag sid; also, only if "
3410 "they are neither fixed nor set to sarge-ignore. The testing bug count for a "
3411 "package is considered to be roughly the bug count of unstable count at the "
3412 "last point when the testing version equalled the unstable version."
3415 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
3418 "This will change post-sarge, as soon as we have versions in the bug tracking "
3422 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><title>
3425 "How could installing a package into testing possibly break other packages?"
3428 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
3431 "The structure of the distribution archives is such that they can only "
3432 "contain one version of a package; a package is defined by its name. So when "
3433 "the source package acmefoo is installed into testing, along with its binary "
3434 "packages acme-foo-bin, acme-bar-bin, libacme-foo1 and libacme-foo-dev, the "
3435 "old version is removed."
3438 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
3441 "However, the old version may have provided a binary package with an old "
3442 "soname of a library, such as libacme-foo0. Removing the old acmefoo will "
3443 "remove libacme-foo0, which will break any packages which depend on it."
3446 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
3449 "Evidently, this mainly affects packages which provide changing sets of "
3450 "binary packages in different versions (in turn, mainly libraries). However, "
3451 "it will also affect packages upon which versioned dependencies have been "
3452 "declared of the ==, <=, or << varieties."
3455 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
3458 "When the set of binary packages provided by a source package change in this "
3459 "way, all the packages that depended on the old binaries will have to be "
3460 "updated to depend on the new binaries instead. Because installing such a "
3461 "source package into testing breaks all the packages that depended on it in "
3462 "testing, some care has to be taken now: all the depending packages must be "
3463 "updated and ready to be installed themselves so that they won't be broken, "
3464 "and, once everything is ready, manual intervention by the release manager or "
3465 "an assistant is normally required."
3468 # type: Content of: <chapter><section><section><section><para>
3471 "If you are having problems with complicated groups of packages like this, "
3472 "contact debian-devel or debian-release for help."
~ianmdlvl / developers-reference.git / blob