The rationale for using helper scripts in <filename>debian/rules</filename> is
that they let maintainers use and share common logic among many packages. Take
for instance the question of installing menu entries: you need to put the file
-into <filename>/usr/lib/menu</filename> (or <filename>/usr/lib/menu</filename>
+into <filename>/usr/share/menu</filename> (or <filename>/usr/lib/menu</filename>
for executable binary menufiles, if this is needed), and add commands to the
maintainer scripts to register and unregister the menu entries. Since this is
a very common thing for packages to do, why should each maintainer rewrite all
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
-If the package is experimental, or there are other reasons it should not be
-used, if there are other packages that should be used instead, it should be
-here as well.
+If the package is <literal>experimental</literal>, or there are other reasons
+it should not be used, if there are other packages that should be used instead,
+it should be here as well.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<section id="bpp-news-debian">
<title>Supplementing changelogs with NEWS.Debian files</title>
<para>
-Important news about changes in a package can also be put in NEWS.Debian files.
+Important news about changes in a package can also be put in <filename>
+NEWS.Debian</filename> files.
The news will be displayed by tools like apt-listchanges, before all the rest
of the changelogs. This is the preferred means to let the user know about
significant changes in a package. It is better than using debconf notes since
-it is less annoying and the user can go back and refer to the NEWS.Debian file
-after the install. And it's better than listing major changes in
-README.Debian, since the user can easily miss such notes.
+it is less annoying and the user can go back and refer to the <filename>
+NEWS.Debian</filename> file after the install. And it's better than listing
+major changes in <filename>README.Debian</filename>, since the user can easily
+miss such notes.
</para>
<para>
The file format is the same as a debian changelog file, but leave off the
asterisks and describe each news item with a full paragraph when necessary
rather than the more concise summaries that would go in a changelog. It's a
-good idea to run your file through dpkg-parsechangelog to check its formatting
-as it will not be automatically checked during build as the changelog is. Here
-is an example of a real NEWS.Debian file:
+good idea to run your file through <literal>dpkg-parsechangelog</literal> to
+check its formatting as it will not be automatically checked during build as
+the changelog is. Here is an example of a real <filename>NEWS.Debian
+</filename> file:
</para>
<screen>
cron (3.0pl1-74) unstable; urgency=low
-- Steve Greenland <stevegr@debian.org> Sat, 6 Sep 2003 17:15:03 -0500
</screen>
<para>
-The NEWS.Debian file is installed as
-/usr/share/doc/<package>/NEWS.Debian.gz. It is compressed, and always
-has that name even in Debian native packages. If you use debhelper,
-dh_installchangelogs will install debian/NEWS files for you.
+The <filename>NEWS.Debian</filename> file is installed as <filename>
+/usr/share/doc/<replaceable>package</replaceable>/NEWS.Debian.gz</filename>.
+It is compressed, and always has that name even in Debian native packages.
+If you use <literal>debhelper</literal>, <literal>dh_installchangelogs
+</literal> will install <filename>debian/NEWS</filename> files for you.
</para>
<para>
-Unlike changelog files, you need not update NEWS.Debian files with every
-release. Only update them if you have something particularly newsworthy that
-user should know about. If you have no news at all, there's no need to ship a
-NEWS.Debian file in your package. No news is good news!
+Unlike changelog files, you need not update <filename>NEWS.Debian</filename>
+files with every release. Only update them if you have something particularly
+newsworthy that user should know about. If you have no news at all, there's no
+need to ship a <filename>NEWS.Debian</filename> file in your package. No news
+is good news!
</para>
</section>
<para>
Please use gettext-based templates. Install <systemitem
role="package">po-debconf</systemitem> on your development system and read its
-documentation (man po-debconf is a good start).
+documentation (<literal>man po-debconf</literal> is a good start).
</para>
<para>
Avoid changing templates too often. Changing templates text induces more work
files headers.
</para>
<para>
-The use of the <command>podebconf-report-po</command> from the po-debconf
-package is highly recommended to warn translators which have incomplete
-translations and request them for updates.
+The use of the <command>podebconf-report-po</command> from the <systemitem
+role="package">po-debconf</systemitem> package is highly recommended to warn
+translators which have incomplete translations and request them for updates.
</para>
<para>
If in doubt, you may also contact the translation team for a given language
it tries to catch other useless packages.
</para>
<para>
-For example, with --guess-dummy, deborphan tries to search all transitional
-packages which were needed for upgrade but which can now safely be removed.
+For example, with <literal>--guess-dummy</literal>, <command>deborphan</command>
+tries to search all transitional packages which were needed for upgrade but
+which can now safely be removed.
For that, it looks for the string dummy or transitional in their short
description.
</para>
<title>Pristine source</title>
<para>
The defining characteristic of a pristine source tarball is that the
-.orig.tar.gz file is byte-for-byte identical to a tarball officially
+<literal>.orig.tar.gz</literal> file is byte-for-byte identical to a tarball officially
distributed by the upstream author. <footnote><para> We cannot prevent
upstream authors from changing the tarball they distribute without also
incrementing the version number, so there can be no guarantee that a pristine
distributing at any point in time. All that can be expected is that it is
identical to something that upstream once <emphasis>did</emphasis> distribute.
If a difference arises later (say, if upstream notices that he wasn't using
-maximal comression in his original distribution and then
-re-<literal>gzip</literal>s it), that's just too bad. Since there is no good
-way to upload a new .orig.tar.gz for the same version, there is not even any
+maximal compression in his original distribution and then
+re-<command>gzip</command>s it), that's just too bad. Since there is no good
+way to upload a new <literal>.orig.tar.gz</literal> for the same version, there is not even any
point in treating this situation as a bug. </para> </footnote> This makes it
possible to use checksums to easily verify that all changes between Debian's
version and upstream's are contained in the Debian diff. Also, if the original
that you must remove before uploading.
</para>
<para>
-In these cases the developer must construct a suitable .orig.tar.gz file
-himself. We refer to such a tarball as a repackaged upstream source. Note
-that a repackaged upstream source is different from a Debian-native package. A
-repackaged source still comes with Debian-specific changes in a separate
-<literal>.diff.gz</literal> and still has a version number composed of
-<literal><upstream-version></literal> and
+In these cases the developer must construct a suitable <literal>.orig.tar.gz
+</literal> file himself. We refer to such a tarball as a repackaged upstream
+source. Note that a repackaged upstream source is different from a
+Debian-native package. A repackaged source still comes with Debian-specific
+changes in a separate <literal>.diff.gz</literal> and still has a version
+number composed of <literal><upstream-version></literal> and
<literal><debian-revision></literal>.
</para>
<para>
if you repackage source that could have been pristine.
</para>
<para>
-A repackaged .orig.tar.gz
+A repackaged <literal>.orig.tar.gz</literal>
</para>
<orderedlist numeration="arabic">
<listitem>
<filename>/usr/lib/debug/usr/lib/libfoo.so.1</filename>.
</para>
<para>
-The debugging symbols can be extracted from an object file using objcopy
---only-keep-debug. Then the object file can be stripped, and objcopy
---add-gnu-debuglink used to specify the path to the debugging symbol file.
+The debugging symbols can be extracted from an object file using <command>
+objcopy --only-keep-debug</command>. Then the object file can be stripped,
+and <command>objcopy --add-gnu-debuglink</command> used to specify the path
+to the debugging symbol file.
<citerefentry> <refentrytitle>objcopy</refentrytitle> <manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
</citerefentry> explains in detail how this works.
</para>
<para>
-The dh_strip command in debhelper supports creating debug packages, and can
-take care of using objcopy to separate out the debugging symbols for you. If
-your package uses debhelper, all you need to do is call dh_strip
---dbg-package=libfoo-dbg, and add an entry to debian/control for the debug
-package.
+The <command>dh_strip</command> command in debhelper supports creating debug
+packages, and can take care of using <command>objcopy</command> to separate
+out the debugging symbols for you. If your package uses debhelper, all you
+need to do is call <command>dh_strip --dbg-package=libfoo-dbg</command>, and
+add an entry to <filename>debian/control</filename> for the debug package.
</para>
<para>
Note that the Debian package should depend on the package that it provides
~ianmdlvl / developers-reference.git / blobdiff