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- <!ENTITY cvs-rev "$Revision: 1.237 $">
+ <!ENTITY cvs-rev "$Revision: 1.253 $">
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revision of the original developer's reference in cvs-en-rev -->
<p>
Furthermore, this document is <em>not an expression of formal
policy</em>. It contains documentation for the Debian system and
-generally agreed-upon best practices. Thus, it is what is called a
+generally agreed-upon best practices. Thus, it is not what is called a
``normative'' document.
<p>
Another good list to subscribe to is &email-debian-mentors;. See <ref
id="mentors"> for details. The IRC channel <tt>#debian</tt> can also be
-helpful.
+helpful; see <ref id="irc-channels">.
<p>
When you know how you want to contribute to &debian-formal;, you
should get in contact with existing Debian maintainers who are working
on similar tasks. That way, you can learn from experienced developers.
For example, if you are interested in packaging existing software for
-Debian you should try to get a sponsor. A sponsor will work together
+Debian, you should try to get a sponsor. A sponsor will work together
with you on your package and upload it to the Debian archive once they
are happy with the packaging work you have done. You can find a sponsor
by mailing the &email-debian-mentors; mailing list, describing your
your identity and intentions, and checking your technical skills. As
the number of people working on &debian-formal; has grown to over
&number-of-maintainers; people and our systems are used in several
-very important places we have to be careful about being compromised.
+very important places, we have to be careful about being compromised.
Therefore, we need to verify new maintainers before we can give them
accounts on our servers and let them upload packages.
<p>
is not signed yet, you should try to meet a Debian maintainer in
person to get your key signed. There's a <url id="&url-gpg-coord;"
name="GnuPG Key Signing Coordination page"> which should help you find
-a maintainer close to you (If you cannot find a Debian maintainer
+a maintainer close to you. (If you cannot find a Debian maintainer
close to you, there's an alternative way to pass the ID check. You
can send in a photo ID signed with your GnuPG key. Having your GnuPG
key signed is the preferred way, however. See the
OpenPGP is an open standard based on <url id="&url-rfc2440;" name="RFC
2440">.
<p>
+<!-- FIXME: DSS is not exactly equivalent to DSA, is it? -->
The recommended public key algorithm for use in Debian development
-work is DSA (sometimes call ``DSS'' or ``DH/ElGamal''). Other key
-types may be used however. Your key length must be at least 1024
+work is DSA (sometimes called ``DSS'' or ``DH/ElGamal'').
+Other key types may be used, however. Your key length must be at least 1024
bits; there is no reason to use a smaller key, and doing so would be
much less secure. Your key must be signed with at least your own user
ID; this prevents user ID tampering. <prgn>gpg</prgn> does this
Read the documentation that comes with your software; read the <url
id="&url-pgp-faq;" name="PGP FAQ">.
<p>
+You need to ensure not only that your key is secure against being stolen,
+but also that it is secure against being lost. Generate and make a copy
+(best also in paper form) of your revocation certificate; this is needed if
+your key is lost.
+ <p>
If you add signatures to your public key, or add user identities, you
can update the Debian key ring by sending your key to the key server at
-<tt>&keyserver-host;</tt>. If you need to add a completely new key,
-or remove an old key, send mail to &email-debian-keyring;. The same
-key extraction routines discussed in <ref id="registering"> apply.
+<tt>&keyserver-host;</tt>.
+ <p>
+If you need to add a completely new key or remove an old key, you need
+to get the new key signed by another developer. After this, a mail
+signed by another developer listing your account name, the keyids
+of the old and of the new key and the reason should be send to
+&email-debian-keyring;. If the old key is compromised or invalid, you
+also have to add the revocation certificate. If there is no real
+reason for a new key, the Keyring Maintainers will only accept it if
+it's more secure and connected to the old key.
+ <p>
+The same key extraction routines discussed in <ref id="registering">
+apply.
<p>
You can find a more in-depth discussion of Debian key maintenance in
the documentation of the <package>debian-keyring</package> package.
It is however open to anyone who wants to lurk (and learn). Its topic is
commonly full of interesting information for developers.
<p>
-Since <em>#debian-devel</em> it's an open channel, you
+Since <em>#debian-devel</em> is an open channel, you
should not speak there of issues that are discussed in
&email-debian-private;. There's another channel for this purpose,
it's called <em>#debian-private</em> and it's protected by a key.
There are other additional channels dedicated to specific subjects.
<em>#debian-bugs</em> is used for coordinating bug squash parties.
<em>#debian-boot</em> is used to coordinate the work on the boot
-floppies (i.e., the installer). <em>#debian-doc</em> is
+floppies (i.e., the installer).
+<!-- FIXME: is boot-floppies an anachronism, or still the channel name? -->
+<em>#debian-doc</em> is
occasionally used to talk about documentation, like the document you are
reading. Other channels are dedicated to an architecture or a set of
packages: <em>#debian-bsd</em>, <em>#debian-kde</em>, <em>#debian-jr</em>,
<sect id="doc-rsrcs">Documentation
<p>
-This document contains a lot of information very useful to Debian developers,
-but it can not contain everything. Most of the other interesting documents
+This document contains a lot of information
+which is useful to Debian developers,
+but it cannot contain everything. Most of the other interesting documents
are linked from <url id="&url-devel-docs;" name="The Developers' Corner">.
Take the time to browse all the links, you will learn many more things.
id="submit-bug"> for information on how to submit bugs.
<p>
Some of the core servers are restricted, but the information from there
-is mirror to another server.
+is mirrored to another server.
<sect1 id="servers-bugs">The bugs server
<p>
bugs against the <package>nonus.debian.org</package> pseudo-package (notice
the lack of hyphen between "non" and "us" in the pseudo-package name
— that's for backwards compatibility). Remember to check whether or
-not someone else has already reported the problem on the
+not someone else has already reported the problem to the
<url id="http://&bugs-host;/nonus.debian.org" name="Bug Tracking System">.
<sect1 id="servers-www">The www-master server
If you find a problem with the Debian web server, you should generally
submit a bug against the pseudo-package,
<package>www.debian.org</package>. Remember to check whether or not someone
-else has already reported the problem on the
+else has already reported the problem to the
<url id="http://&bugs-host;/www.debian.org" name="Bug Tracking System">.
<sect1 id="servers-people">The people web server
Send mail to &email-debian-devel; if you have any questions.
<sect1 id="servers-cvs">The CVS server
+<!-- TODO: document svn.debian.org, arch.debian.org also -->
<p>
Our CVS server is located on <tt>cvs.debian.org</tt>.
<p>
For more information please read the online documentation that you can find
at <url id="&url-debian-db-doc;">.
<p>
-One can also submit their SSH keys to be used for authorization on the
+Developers can also submit their SSH keys to be used for authorization on the
official Debian machines, and even add new *.debian.net DNS entries.
Those features are documented at <url id="&url-debian-db-mail-gw;">.
many on the CD-ROMs as he's allowed to. (Since this varies greatly from
vendor to vendor, this job can't be done by the Debian developers.)
<p>
-Note also that the term "section" is also used to refer to categories
+Note that the term "section" is also used to refer to categories
which simplify the organization and browsing of available packages, e.g.
<em>admin</em>, <em>net</em>, <em>utils</em> etc. Once upon a time, these
sections (subsections, rather) existed in the form of subdirectories within
shipped for <em>i386</em> and <em>m68k</em> architectures. Debian 2.1
ships for the <em>i386</em>, <em>m68k</em>, <em>alpha</em>, and
<em>sparc</em> architectures. Debian 2.2 added support for the
-<em>powerpc</em> and <em>arm</em> architectures. Debian 3.0 adds
+<em>powerpc</em> and <em>arm</em> architectures. Debian 3.0 added
support of five new architectures: <em>ia64</em>, <em>hppa</em>,
<em>s390</em>, <em>mips</em> and <em>mipsel</em>.
<p>
contained in <ftppath>/debian</ftppath>, which is a common location
(another is <file>/pub/debian</file>).
<p>
-A distribution is comprised of Debian source and binary packages, and the
+A distribution comprises Debian source and binary packages, and the
respective <file>Sources</file> and <file>Packages</file> index files, containing
the header information from all those packages. The former are kept in the
<file>pool/</file> directory, while the latter are kept in the <file>dists/</file>
<sect2 id="sec-dists">Stable, testing, and unstable
<p>
There are always distributions called <em>stable</em> (residing in
-<file>dists/stable</file>), one called <em>testing</em> (residing in
-<file>dists/testing</file>), and one called <em>unstable</em> (residing in
+<file>dists/stable</file>), <em>testing</em> (residing in
+<file>dists/testing</file>), and <em>unstable</em> (residing in
<file>dists/unstable</file>). This reflects the development process of the
Debian project.
<p>
(that's why this distribution is sometimes called the <em>development
distribution</em>). Every Debian developer can update his or her
packages in this distribution at any time. Thus, the contents of this
-distribution changes from day-to-day. Since no special effort is done
+distribution change from day to day. Since no special effort is made
to make sure everything in this distribution is working properly, it is
sometimes literally unstable.
<p>
An alternative to <em>experimental</em> is to use your personal web space
on <tt>people.debian.org</tt>.
<p>
-Please consider to use the option <tt>-v</tt> to <prgn>dpkg-buildpackage</prgn>
-if uploading a package to unstable to get the bugs finally closed that were
-first fixed in experimental.
+When uploading to unstable a package which had bugs fixed in experimental,
+please consider using the option <tt>-v</tt> to <prgn>dpkg-buildpackage</prgn>
+to finally get them closed.
<sect1 id="codenames">Release code names
<p>
packages and their cryptographic signatures.
If the package is considered ready to be installed, it
is moved into the <file>accepted</file> directory. If this is the first upload of
-the package, it is moved in the <file>new</file> directory, where it waits
-for an approval of the ftpmasters. If the package contains files to be installed
-"by-hand" it is moved in the <file>byhand</file> directory, where it waits
-for a manual installation by the ftpmasters. Otherwise, if any error has been detected,
-the package is refused and is moved in the <file>reject</file> directory.
- <p>
-Once the package is accepted the system sends a confirmation
-mail to the maintainer, closes all the bugs marked as fixed by the upload
+the package, it is moved to the <file>new</file> directory, where it waits
+for approval by the ftpmasters. If the package contains files to be installed
+"by hand" it is moved to the <file>byhand</file> directory, where it waits
+for manual installation by the ftpmasters. Otherwise, if any error has been detected,
+the package is refused and is moved to the <file>reject</file> directory.
+ <p>
+Once the package is accepted, the system sends a confirmation
+mail to the maintainer and closes all the bugs marked as fixed by the upload,
and the auto-builders may start recompiling it. The package is now publicly
accessible at <url id="&url-incoming;"> (there is no
such URL for packages in the non-US archive) until it is really installed
&email-debian-devel-changes; instead.
<p>
All Debian developers have write access to the <file>unchecked</file>
-directory in order to upload their packages, they also have that access
+directory in order to upload their packages; they also have that access
to the <file>reject</file> directory in order to remove their bad uploads
-or to move some files back in the <file>unchecked</file> directory. But
-all the other directories are only writable by the ftpmasters, that is
-why you can not remove an upload once it has been accepted.
+or to move some files back to the <file>unchecked</file> directory. But
+all the other directories are only writable by the ftpmasters, which is
+why you cannot remove an upload once it has been accepted.
<sect1 id="delayed-incoming-broken">Delayed incoming
<p>
-<em>Note:</em> This description here is currently disabled, because
+<em>Note:</em> This description here is currently not working, because
ftp-master is restricted. Please see <ref id="delayed-incoming"> for
the currently working way.
<p>
The <file>unchecked</file> directory has a special <file>DELAYED</file>
subdirectory. It is itself subdivided in nine directories
-called <file>1-day</file> to <file>9-day</file>. Packages which are uploaded in
-one of those directories will be moved in the real unchecked
+called <file>1-day</file> to <file>9-day</file>. Packages which are uploaded to
+one of those directories will be moved to the real unchecked
directory after the corresponding number of days.
-This is done by a script that is run each day and which moves the
+This is done by a script which is run each day and which moves the
packages between the directories. Those which are in "1-day" are
-installed in <file>unchecked</file> while the others are moved in the
+installed in <file>unchecked</file> while the others are moved to the
adjacent directory (for example, a package in <file>5-day</file> will
-be moved in <file>4-day</file>). This feature is particularly useful
+be moved to <file>4-day</file>). This feature is particularly useful
for people who are doing non-maintainer uploads. Instead of
waiting before uploading a NMU, it is uploaded as soon as it is
-ready but in one of those <file>DELAYED/<var>x</var>-day</file> directories.
+ready, but to one of those <file>DELAYED/<var>x</var>-day</file> directories.
That leaves the corresponding number of days for the maintainer
to react and upload another fix themselves if they are not
completely satisfied with the NMU. Alternatively they can remove
displays each version of the package
available in the various distributions. Each version links to a page
which provides information, including the package description,
-the dependencies and package download links.
+the dependencies, and package download links.
<p>
The bug tracking system tracks bugs for each package.
You can view the bugs of a given package at the URL
<sect1 id="madison">The <prgn>madison</prgn> utility
<p>
<prgn>madison</prgn> is a command-line utility that is available
-on both <tt>&ftp-master-host;</tt> and <tt>&non-us-host;</tt>. It
+on both <tt>&ftp-master-host;</tt> and <tt>&non-us-host;</tt>, and on
+the mirror on <tt>&ftp-master-mirror;</tt>. It
uses a single argument corresponding to a package name. In result
it displays which version of the package is available for each
architecture and distribution combination. An example will explain
<p>
In this example, you can see that the version in <em>unstable</em> differs from
the version in <em>testing</em> and that there has been a binary-only NMU of the
-package for the alpha architecture. Each time the package has been
+package for the alpha architecture. Each version of the package has been
recompiled on most of the architectures.
<sect id="pkg-tracking-system">The Package Tracking System
<sect1 id="pts-cvs-commit">Forwarding CVS commits in the PTS
<p>
If you use a publicly accessible CVS repository for maintaining
-your Debian package you may want to forward the commit notification
+your Debian package, you may want to forward the commit notification
to the PTS so that the subscribers (and possible co-maintainers) can
closely follow the package's evolution.
<p>
pseudo-package <package>wnpp</package>
describing your plan to create a new package, including, but not
limiting yourself to, a description of the package, the license of the
-prospective package and the current URL where it can be downloaded
+prospective package, and the current URL where it can be downloaded
from.
<p>
You should set the subject of the bug to ``ITP: <var>foo</var>
of the message (no, don't use <tt>CC:</tt>, because that way the message's subject
won't indicate the bug number).
<p>
-Please include a <tt>Closes: bug#<var>nnnnn</var></tt> entry on the
+Please include a <tt>Closes: bug#<var>nnnnn</var></tt> entry in the
changelog of the new package in order for the bug report to be
-automatically closed once the new package is installed on the archive
-(<ref id="upload-bugfix">).
+automatically closed once the new package is installed in the archive
+(see <ref id="upload-bugfix">).
<p>
There are a number of reasons why we ask maintainers to announce their
intentions:
archive maintenance software will parse the changes file and see that not
all files have been uploaded.
<p>
+<!-- FIXME: is this still topical? Explain the rationale? -->
<em>Note:</em> Do not upload to <tt>ftp-master</tt> cryptographic
packages which belong to <em>contrib</em> or <em>non-free</em>. Uploads of
such software should go to <tt>non-us</tt> (see <ref
id="upload-non-us">). Furthermore packages containing code that is
-patent-restricted by the United States government can not be uploaded to
+patent-restricted by the United States government cannot be uploaded to
<tt>ftp-master</tt>; depending on the case they may still be uploaded to
<file>non-US/non-free</file> (it's in non-free because of distribution issues
and not because of the license of the software). If you can't upload it to
<sect1>Other upload queues
<p>
-The scp queues on ftp-master, non-us and security are mostly unuseable
+The scp queues on ftp-master, non-us, and security are mostly unusable
due to the login restrictions on those hosts.
<p>
The anonymous queues on ftp.uni-erlangen.de and ftp.uk.debian.org are
currently down. Work is underway to resurrect those.
<p>
-The queues on master.debian.org, samosa.debian.org, master.debian.or.jp
-and ftp.chiark.greenend.org.uk are down permanently and will not be
+The queues on master.debian.org, samosa.debian.org, master.debian.or.jp,
+and ftp.chiark.greenend.org.uk are down permanently, and will not be
resurrected. The queue in Japan will be replaced with a new queue on
hp.debian.or.jp some day.
<p>
section the package was inserted into. If there is a disparity, you
will receive a separate email notifying you of that. Read on below.
<p>
-Note also that if you upload via queues, the queue daemon software will
+Note that if you upload via queues, the queue daemon software will
also send you a notification by email.
<sect id="override-file">Specifying the package section, subsection and priority
reports properly (see <ref id="submit-bug">), how to update them and
reorder them, and how to process and close them.
<p>
-The bug tracking system's features interesting to developers are described
+The bug tracking system's features are described
in the <url id="&url-bts-devel;" name="BTS documentation for developers">.
This includes closing bugs, sending followup messages, assigning severities
-and tags, marking bugs as forwarded and other issues.
+and tags, marking bugs as forwarded, and other issues.
<p>
Operations such as reassigning bugs to other packages, merging separate
bug reports about the same issue, or reopening bugs when they are
<p>
As a package maintainer, you will often find bugs in other packages or
have bugs reported against your packages which are actually bugs in
-other packages. The bug tracking system's features interesting to developers
+other packages. The bug tracking system's features
are described in the <url id="&url-bts-devel;" name="BTS documentation for
Debian developers">. Operations such as reassigning, merging, and tagging
bug reports are described in the <url id="&url-bts-control;" name="BTS
some guidelines for managing your own bugs, based on the collective
Debian developer experience.
<p>
-Filing bugs for problems that you find in other packages is one of
+Filing bugs for problems that you find in other packages is one of
the "civic obligations" of maintainership, see <ref id="submit-bug">
for details. However, handling the bugs in your own packages is
even more important.
again and again you may ask yourself if the documentation is good
enough or if the program shouldn't detect its misuse in order to
give an informative error message. This is an issue that may need
-to be brought to the upstream author.
+to be brought up with the upstream author.
<p>
If the bug submitter disagrees with your decision to close the bug,
they may reopen it until you find an agreement on how to handle it.
<item>
If the bug is real but it's caused by another package, just reassign
the bug to the right package. If you don't know which package it should
-be reassigned to, you may either ask for help on &email-debian-devel; or
-reassign it to <package>debian-policy</package> to let them decide which
-package is at fault.
+be reassigned to, you should ask for help on
+<qref id="irc-channels">IRC</qref> or on &email-debian-devel;.
<p>
Sometimes you also have to adjust the severity of the bug so that it
matches our definition of the severity. That's because people tend to
the bug has been fixed or not. If it has, you just close it, otherwise
you have to remind the author about it. If you have the required skills
you can prepare a patch that fixes the bug and that you send at the
-same time to the author. Make sure to send the patch in the BTS and to
+same time to the author. Make sure to send the patch to the BTS and to
tag the bug as <tt>patch</tt>.
<item>
If you have fixed a bug in your local copy, or if a fix has been
most concise entry and the easiest to integrate with the text of the
<file>changelog</file>.
<p>
+If an upload is identified as <qref id="nmu">Non-maintainer upload (NMU)</qref>
+(and that is the case if the name of the person who commits this change
+is not exactly the same as any one of Maintainer or Uploader,
+except if the maintainer is the qa group),
+than the bug is only tagged <tt>fixed</tt> instead of being closed.
+If a maintainer upload is targetted to experimental,
+than the tag <tt>fixed-in-experimental</tt> is added to the bug;
+for NMUs, the tag <tt>fixed</tt> is used.
+(The special rule for experimental is expected to change
+as soon as version-tracking is added to the bug tracking system.)
+ <p>
If you happen to mistype a bug number or forget a bug in the changelog
entries, don't hesitate to undo any damage the error caused. To reopen
wrongly closed bugs, send an <tt>reopen <var>XXX</var></tt> command to
<p>
Sometimes a package will change its section. For instance, a
package from the `non-free' section might be GPL'd in a later version,
-in which case, the package should be moved to `main' or
+in which case the package should be moved to `main' or
`contrib'.<footnote> See the <url id="&url-debian-policy;"
name="Debian Policy Manual"> for guidelines on what section a package
belongs in.
<p>
The first and most important thing is to respond quickly to bug or
issues raised by porters. Please treat porters with courtesy, as if
-they were in fact co-maintainers of your package (which in a way, they
-are). Please be tolerant of succinct or even unclear bug reports,
-doing your best to hunt down whatever the problem is.
+they were in fact co-maintainers of your package (which, in a way, they
+are). Please be tolerant of succinct or even unclear bug reports;
+do your best to hunt down whatever the problem is.
<p>
By far, most of the problems encountered by porters are caused by
<em>packaging bugs</em> in the source packages. Here is a checklist
being setup in a special way. Try building your package on another
machine, even if it's the same architecture.
<item>
-Don't depend on the package you're building already being installed (a
+Don't depend on the package you're building being installed already (a
sub-case of the above issue).
<item>
Don't rely on the compiler being a certain version, if possible. If
set <var>porter-email</var> to your email address. This will do a
binary-only build of only the architecture-dependent portions of the
package, using the `binary-arch' target in <file>debian/rules</file>.
+ <p>
+If you are working on a Debian machine for your porting efforts and you
+need to sign your upload locally for its acceptance in the archive, you
+can run <prgn>debsign</prgn> on your <file>.changes</file> file to have
+it signed conveniently, or use the remote signing mode of <prgn>dpkg-sig</prgn>.
+
<sect2 id="binary-only-nmu">
<heading>Recompilation or binary-only NMU</heading>
an updated environment. However, you have to bump the version number in
this case, so that the old bad package can be replaced in the Debian archive
(<prgn>katie</prgn> refuses to install new packages if they don't have a
-version number greater than the currently available one). Despite the
+version number greater than the currently available one).
+ <p>
+You have to make sure that your binary-only NMU doesn't render the package
+uninstallable. This could happen when a source package generates
+arch-dependent and arch-independent packages that depend on each other via
+$(Source-Version).
+ <p>
+Despite the
required modification of the changelog, these are called binary-only NMUs
— there is no need in this case to trigger all other architectures
to consider themselves out of date or requiring recompilation.
``2.9-3'', your NMU should carry a version of ``2.9-3.0.1''. If the
latest version was ``3.4-2.1'', your NMU should have a version number
of ``3.4-2.1.1''.
+ <p>
+Similar to initial porter uploads, the correct way of invoking
+<prgn>dpkg-buildpackage</prgn> is <tt>dpkg-buildpackage -B</tt> to only
+build the architecture-dependent parts of the package.
<sect2 id="source-nmu-when-porter">
non-porter, since porters have to cope with a large quantity of
packages.
Again, the situation varies depending on the distribution they are
-uploading to.
-
-<!--
-FIXME: commented out until I can work out how to upload to testing directly
-
- Crucial fixes (i.e., changes need to get a source
-package to compile for a released-targeted architecture) can be
-uploaded with <em>no</em> waiting period for the `frozen' distribution.
- -->
+uploading to. It also varies whether the architecture is a candidate
+for inclusion into the next stable release; the release managers
+decide and announce which architectures are candidates.
<p>
-However, if you are a porter doing an NMU for `unstable', the above
+If you are a porter doing an NMU for `unstable', the above
guidelines for porting should be followed, with two variations.
Firstly, the acceptable waiting period — the time between when the
bug is submitted to the BTS and when it is OK to do an NMU — is seven
can be shortened if the problem is critical and imposes hardship on
the porting effort, at the discretion of the porter group. (Remember,
none of this is Policy, just mutually agreed upon guidelines.)
+For uploads to stable or testing, please coordinate with the appropriate
+release team first.
<p>
Secondly, porters doing source NMUs should make sure that the bug they
submit to the BTS should be of severity `serious' or greater. This
Porters should try to avoid patches which simply kludge around bugs in
the current version of the compile environment, kernel, or libc.
Sometimes such kludges can't be helped. If you have to kludge around
-compilers bugs and the like, make sure you <tt>#ifdef</tt> your work
+compiler bugs and the like, make sure you <tt>#ifdef</tt> your work
properly; also, document your kludge so that people know to remove it
once the external problems have been fixed.
<p>
<sect id="nmu">Non-Maintainer Uploads (NMUs)
<p>
Under certain circumstances it is necessary for someone other than the
-official package maintainer to make a release of a package. This is
+official package maintainer to make a release of a package. This is
called a non-maintainer upload, or NMU.
<p>
-Debian porters, who compile packages for different architectures,
-occasionally do binary-only NMUs as part of their porting activity
-(see <ref id="porting">). Another reason why NMUs are done is when a
-Debian developer needs to fix another developer's packages in order to
-address serious security problems or crippling bugs, especially during
-the freeze, or when the package maintainer is unable to release a fix
+This section handles only source NMUs, i.e. NMUs which upload a new
+version of the package. For binary-only NMUs by porters or QA members,
+please see <ref id="binary-only-nmu">.
+If a buildd builds and uploads a package,
+that too is strictly speaking a binary NMU.
+See <ref id="buildd"> for some more information.
+ <p>
+The main reason why NMUs are done is when a
+developer needs to fix another developer's packages in order to
+address serious problems or crippling bugs
+or when the package maintainer is unable to release a fix
in a timely fashion.
- <p>
-This chapter contains information providing guidelines for when and
-how NMUs should be done. A fundamental distinction is made between
-source and binary-only NMUs, which is explained in the next section.
-
- <sect1 id="nmu-terms">Terminology
- <p>
-There are two new terms used throughout this section: ``binary-only NMU''
-and ``source NMU''. These terms are used with specific technical
-meaning throughout this document. Both binary-only and source NMUs are
-similar, since they involve an upload of a package by a developer who
-is not the official maintainer of that package. That is why it's a
-<em>non-maintainer</em> upload.
- <p>
-A source NMU is an upload of a package by a developer who is not the
-official maintainer, for the purposes of fixing a bug in the package.
-Source NMUs always involves changes to the source (even if it is just
-a change to <file>debian/changelog</file>). This can be either a
-change to the upstream source, or a change to the Debian bits of the
-source. Note, however, that source NMUs may also include
-architecture-dependent packages, as well as an updated Debian diff.
<p>
-A binary-only NMU is a recompilation and upload of a binary package
-for a given architecture. As such, it is usually part of a porting
-effort. A binary-only NMU is a non-maintainer uploaded binary version
-of a package, with no source changes required. There are many cases
-where porters must fix problems in the source in order to get them to
-compile for their target architecture; that would be considered a
-source NMU rather than a binary-only NMU. As you can see, we don't
-distinguish in terminology between porter NMUs and non-porter NMUs.
+First and foremost, it is critical that NMU patches to source should
+be as non-disruptive as possible. Do not do housekeeping tasks, do
+not change the name of modules or files, do not move directories; in
+general, do not fix things which are not broken. Keep the patch as
+small as possible. If things bother you aesthetically, talk to the
+Debian maintainer, talk to the upstream maintainer, or submit a bug.
+However, aesthetic changes must <em>not</em> be made in a non-maintainer
+upload.
<p>
-Both classes of NMUs, source and binary-only, can be lumped by the
-term ``NMU''. However, this often leads to confusion, since most
-people think ``source NMU'' when they think ``NMU''. So it's best to
-be careful. In this chapter, if we use the unqualified term ``NMU'',
-we refer to any type of non-maintainer upload NMUs, whether source and
-binary, or binary-only.
+And please remember the Hippocratic Oath: "Above all, do no harm."
+It is better if a package has an grave bug open, than if a not working
+patch was applied, and the bug is only hidden now but not resolved.
- <sect1 id="nmu-who">Who can do an NMU
+ <sect1 id="nmu-guidelines">How to do a NMU
<p>
-Only official, registered Debian maintainers can do binary or source
-NMUs. An official maintainer is someone who has their key in the
-Debian key ring. Non-developers, however, are encouraged to download
-the source package and start hacking on it to fix problems; however,
-rather than doing an NMU, they should just submit worthwhile patches
-to the Bug Tracking System. Maintainers almost always appreciate
-quality patches and bug reports.
-
-
- <sect1 id="nmu-when">When to do a source NMU
+NMUs which fix important, serious or higher severity bugs are encouraged
+and accepted.
+You should endeavor to reach the current maintainer of the package; they
+might be just about to upload a fix for the problem, or have a better
+solution present.
<p>
-Guidelines for when to do a source NMU depend on the target
-distribution, i.e., stable, unstable, or experimental. Porters have
-slightly different rules than non-porters, due to their unique
-circumstances (see <ref id="source-nmu-when-porter">).
+NMUs should be made to assist a package's maintainer in resolving bugs.
+Maintainers should be thankful for that help, and NMUers should respect
+the decisions of maintainers, and try to personally help the maintainer by
+their work.
<p>
-When a security bug is detected, the security team may do an NMU.
-Please refer to <ref id="bug-security"> for more information.
- <p>
-During the release cycle (see <ref id="sec-dists">), NMUs which fix
-serious or higher severity bugs are encouraged and accepted. Even
-during this window, however, you should endeavor to reach the current
-maintainer of the package; they might be just about to upload a fix
-for the problem. As with any source NMU, the guidelines found in <ref
-id="nmu-guidelines"> need to be followed. Special exceptions are made
-for <ref id="qa-bsp">.
- <p>
-Uploading bug fixes to unstable by non-maintainers should only be done
-by following this protocol:
+A NMU should follow all conventions, written down in this section.
+For an upload to testing or unstable, this order of steps is recommended:
<p>
<list>
<item>
<item>
Wait a few more days. If you still haven't got an answer from the
maintainer, send them a mail announcing your intent to NMU the package.
-Prepare an NMU as described in <ref id="nmu-guidelines">, test it
+Prepare an NMU as described in this section, and test it
carefully on your machine (cf. <ref id="sanitycheck">).
Double check that your patch doesn't have any unexpected side effects.
Make sure your patch is as small and as non-disruptive as it can be.
important to notice that even in these so-called "bug squashing party"
times, the NMU'er has to file bugs and contact the developer first,
and act later.
-
- <sect1 id="nmu-guidelines">How to do a source NMU
+Please see <ref id="qa-bsp"> for details.
<p>
-The following applies to porters insofar as they are playing the dual
-role of being both package bug-fixers and package porters. If a
-porter has to change the Debian source archive, their upload is
-automatically a source NMU and is subject to its rules. If a porter is
-simply uploading a recompiled binary package, the rules are different;
-see <ref id="porter-guidelines">.
+For the testing distribution, the rules may be changed by the release
+managers. Please take additional care, and acknowledge that the usual way
+for a package to enter testing is through unstable.
<p>
-First and foremost, it is critical that NMU patches to source should
-be as non-disruptive as possible. Do not do housekeeping tasks, do
-not change the name of modules or files, do not move directories; in
-general, do not fix things which are not broken. Keep the patch as
-small as possible. If things bother you aesthetically, talk to the
-Debian maintainer, talk to the upstream maintainer, or submit a bug.
-However, aesthetic changes must <em>not</em> be made in a non-maintainer
-upload.
+For the stable distribution, please take extra care. Of course, the release
+managers may also change the rules here. Please verify before upload that
+all your changes are OK for inclusion into the next stable release by the
+release manager.
+ <p>
+When a security bug is detected, the security team may do an NMU, using
+their own rules. Please refer to <ref id="bug-security"> for more
+information.
+ <p>
+For the differences for Porters NMUs, please see
+<ref id="source-nmu-when-porter">.
+ <p>
+Of course, it is always possible to agree on special rules with a maintainer
+(like the maintainer asking "please upload this fix directly for me, and no
+diff required").
- <sect2 id="nmu-version">Source NMU version numbering
+ <sect1 id="nmu-version">NMU version numbering
<p>
Whenever you have made a change to a package, no matter how trivial,
the version number needs to change. This enables our packing system
the release should start with the <var>debian-revision</var> value
`0.1'. The usual maintainer of a package should start their
<var>debian-revision</var> numbering at `1'.
+ <p>
+If you upload a package to testing or stable, sometimes, you need to
+"fork" the version number tree. For this, version numbers like
+1.1-3sarge0.1 could be used.
- <sect2 id="nmu-changelog">
+ <sect1 id="nmu-changelog">
<heading>Source NMUs must have a new changelog entry</heading>
<p>
A non-maintainer doing a source NMU must create a changelog entry,
</example>
- <sect2 id="nmu-patch">Source NMUs and the Bug Tracking System
+ <sect1 id="nmu-patch">Source NMUs and the Bug Tracking System
<p>
Maintainers other than the official package maintainer should make as
few changes to the package as possible, and they should always send a
If the source NMU (non-maintainer upload) fixes some existing bugs,
these bugs should be tagged <em>fixed</em> in the Bug Tracking
System rather than closed. By convention, only the official package
-maintainer or the original bug submitter are allowed to close bugs.
+maintainer or the original bug submitter close bugs.
Fortunately, Debian's archive system recognizes NMUs and thus marks
the bugs fixed in the NMU appropriately if the person doing the NMU
has listed all bugs in the changelog with the <tt>Closes:
changes in the NMU are incorporated officially into the package by
the official package maintainer.
<p>
-Also, after doing an NMU, you have to open a new bug and include a
-patch showing all the changes you have made. Alternatively you can send
-that information to the existing bugs that are fixed by your NMU.
+Also, after doing an NMU, you have to send
+that information to the existing bugs that are fixed by your NMU,
+including the unified diff.
+Alternatively you can open a new bug and include a
+patch showing all the changes you have made.
The normal maintainer will either apply the patch or employ an alternate
method of fixing the problem. Sometimes bugs are fixed independently
upstream, which is another good reason to back out an NMU's patch.
entry in the changelog file documenting the non-maintainer upload.
- <sect2 id="nmu-build">Building source NMUs
+ <sect1 id="nmu-build">Building source NMUs
<p>
Source NMU packages are built normally. Pick a distribution using the
same rules as found in <ref id="distribution">, follow the other
If one of your packages has been NMU'ed, you have to incorporate the
changes in your copy of the sources. This is easy, you just have
to apply the patch that has been sent to you. Once this is done, you
-have to close the bugs that have been tagged fixed by the NMU. You
-can either close them manually by sending the required mails to the
+have to close the bugs that have been tagged fixed by the NMU. The easiest
+way is to use the <tt>-v</tt> option of <prgn>dpkg-buildpackage</prgn>,
+as this allows you to include just all changes since your last maintainer
+upload. Alternativly, you
+can close them manually by sending the required mails to the
BTS or by adding the required <tt>closes: #nnnn</tt> in the changelog
entry of your next upload.
<p>
basis as co-maintainer or backup maintainer
(see <ref id="collaborative-maint">).
+ <sect1 id="nmu-vs-qa">NMU vs QA uploads
+ <p>
+Unless you know the maintainer is still active, it is wise to check the
+package to see if it has been orphaned. The current list of orphaned
+packages which haven't had their maintainer set correctly is available at
+<url id="&url-debian-qa-orphaned;">. If you perform an NMU on an
+improperly orphaned package, please set the maintainer to ``Debian QA Group
+<packages@qa.debian.org>''. Also, the bugs are closed in that case,
+and not only marked fixed.
+
+ <sect1 id="nmu-who">Who can do an NMU
+ <p>
+Only official, registered Debian maintainers can do binary or source
+NMUs. An official maintainer is someone who has their key in the
+Debian key ring. Non-developers, however, are encouraged to download
+the source package and start hacking on it to fix problems; however,
+rather than doing an NMU, they should just submit worthwhile patches
+to the Bug Tracking System. Maintainers almost always appreciate
+quality patches and bug reports.
+
+ <sect1 id="nmu-terms">Terminology
+ <p>
+There are two new terms used throughout this section: ``binary-only NMU''
+and ``source NMU''. These terms are used with specific technical
+meaning throughout this document. Both binary-only and source NMUs are
+similar, since they involve an upload of a package by a developer who
+is not the official maintainer of that package. That is why it's a
+<em>non-maintainer</em> upload.
+ <p>
+A source NMU is an upload of a package by a developer who is not the
+official maintainer, for the purposes of fixing a bug in the package.
+Source NMUs always involves changes to the source (even if it is just
+a change to <file>debian/changelog</file>). This can be either a
+change to the upstream source, or a change to the Debian bits of the
+source. Note, however, that source NMUs may also include
+architecture-dependent packages, as well as an updated Debian diff.
+ <p>
+A binary-only NMU is a recompilation and upload of a binary package
+for a given architecture. As such, it is usually part of a porting
+effort. A binary-only NMU is a non-maintainer uploaded binary version
+of a package, with no source changes required. There are many cases
+where porters must fix problems in the source in order to get them to
+compile for their target architecture; that would be considered a
+source NMU rather than a binary-only NMU. As you can see, we don't
+distinguish in terminology between porter NMUs and non-porter NMUs.
+ <p>
+Both classes of NMUs, source and binary-only, can be lumped by the
+term ``NMU''. However, this often leads to confusion, since most
+people think ``source NMU'' when they think ``NMU''. So it's best to
+be careful: always use ``binary NMU'' or ``binNMU'' for binary-only
+NMUs.
+
<sect id="collaborative-maint">
<heading>Collaborative maintenance</heading>
package maintenance duties by several people. This collaboration is
almost always a good idea, since it generally results in higher quality and
faster bug fix turnaround time. It is strongly recommended that
-packages in which a priority of <tt>Standard</tt> or which are part of
+packages with a priority of <tt>Standard</tt> or which are part of
the base set have co-maintainers.</p>
<p>
Generally there is a primary maintainer and one or more
Please see below for details.
<sect1 id="testing-unstable">
<heading>Updates from unstable</heading>
+ <p>
The scripts that update the <em>testing</em> distribution are run each
day after the installation of the updated packages. They generate the
<file>Packages</file> files for the <em>testing</em> distribution, but
-they do so in an intelligent manner trying to avoid any inconsistency
-and trying to use only non-buggy packages.
+they do so in an intelligent manner; they try to avoid any inconsistency
+and to use only non-buggy packages.
<p>
The inclusion of a package from <em>unstable</em> is conditional on
the following:
<item>
The package must have been available in <em>unstable</em> for 2, 5 or 10
days, depending on the urgency (high, medium or low).
-Please note that the urgency is sticky, means that the highest
-urgency uploaded since the last testing transition is taken into account.
-Those delays may be doubled during a freeze, or testing transition may be
-switched off at all;
+Please note that the urgency is sticky, meaning that the highest
+urgency uploaded since the previous testing transition is taken into account.
+Those delays may be doubled during a freeze, or testing transitions may be
+switched off altogether;
<item>
-It must have less release-critical bugs than the version available
+It must have fewer release-critical bugs than the version currently available
in <em>testing</em>;
<item>
-It must be available on all architectures on which it has been
-previously built in unstable. <ref id="madison"> may be of interest to
+It must be available on all architectures on which it has previously
+been built in unstable. <ref id="madison"> may be of interest to
check that information;
<item>
-It must not break any dependency of a package that is already available
+It must not break any dependency of a package which is already available
in <em>testing</em>;
<item>
The packages on which it depends must either be available in <em>testing</em>
or they must be accepted into <em>testing</em> at the same time (and they will
-if they respect all the necessary criteria);
+if they fulfill all the necessary criteria);
</list>
<p>
To find out whether a package is progressing into testing or not, see the
testing script output on the <url name="web page of the testing distribution"
id="&url-testing-maint;">, or use the program <prgn>grep-excuses</prgn>
which is in the <package>devscripts</package> package. This utility can
-easily be used in a <manref name="crontab" section="5"> to keep one
-informed of the progression of their packages into <em>testing</em>.
+easily be used in a <manref name="crontab" section="5"> to keep yourself
+informed of the progression of your packages into <em>testing</em>.
<p>
The <file>update_excuses</file> file does not always give the precise reason
-why the package is refused, one may have to find it on their own by looking
+why the package is refused; you may have to find it on your own by looking
for what would break with the inclusion of the package. The
<url id="&url-testing-maint;" name="testing web page"> gives some more
information about the usual problems which may be causing such troubles.
by the scripts. See below for details.
<p>
Some further dependency analysis is shown on
-<url id="http://bjorn.haxx.se/debian/"> - but be warned, they show also
-the build dependencies that are not considered by britney.
+<url id="http://bjorn.haxx.se/debian/"> — but be warned,
+this page also shows build dependencies which
+are not considered by britney.
<sect2 id="outdated">
<heading>out-of-date</heading>
<p>
+<!-- FIXME: better rename this file than document rampant professionalism? -->
For the testing migration script, "outdated" means: There are different
versions in unstable for the release architectures (except for the
-architectures in fuckedarches; fuckedarches is an list of architectures
+architectures in fuckedarches; fuckedarches is a list of architectures
that don't keep up (in update_out.py), but currently, it's empty).
"outdated" has nothing whatsoever to do with the architectures this package
has in testing.
<p>
Consider this example:
<p>
- <tt>
- foo | alpha | arm
+ <example>
+foo | alpha | arm
---------+-------+----
testing | 1 | -
unstable | 1 | 2
-</tt>
+</example>
<p>
The package is out of date on alpha in unstable, and will not go to
testing. And removing foo from testing would not help at all, the package
<p>
However, if ftp-master removes a package in unstable (here on arm):
<p>
- <tt>
+ <example>
foo | alpha | arm | hurd-i386
---------+-------+-----+----------
testing | 1 | 1 | -
unstable | 2 | - | 1
- </tt>
+ </example>
<p>
In this case, the package is up to date on all release architectures in
unstable (and the extra hurd-i386 doesn't matter, as it's not a release
<heading>Removals from testing</heading>
<p>
Sometimes, a package is removed to allow another package in: This happens
-only to allow _another_ package to go in, that's ready in every other
-sense. Consider e.g. that a conflicts with the new version of b; than a may
-be removed to allow b in.
+only to allow <em>another</em> package to go in if it's ready in every other
+sense. Suppose e.g. that <em>a</em> conflicts with the new version of
+<em>b</em>; then <em>a</em> may be removed to allow <em>b</em> in.
<p>
Of course, there is another reason to remove a package from testing: It's
just too buggy (and having a single RC-bug is enough to be in this state).
<sect2 id="circular">
<heading>circular dependencies</heading>
<p>
-A situation that is not handled very well by britney is if package a
-depends on the new version of package b, and vice versa.
+A situation which is not handled very well by britney is if package <em>a</em>
+depends on the new version of package <em>b</em>, and vice versa.
<p>
An example of this is:
<p>
- <tt>
+ <example>
| testing | unstable
--+-----------------+------------
a | 1; depends: b=1 | 2; depends: b=2
b | 1; depends: a=1 | 2; depends: a=2
- </tt>
+ </example>
<p>
-Package a is not considered for update, and package b also not.
+Neither package <em>a</em> nor package <em>b</em> is considered for update.
<p>
-Currently, this requires some manual hinting from the release masters.
-Please, send mail to debian-release@lists.debian.org if that happens to
-one of your packages.
+Currently, this requires some manual hinting from the release team.
+Please contact them by sending mail to &email-debian-release; if this
+happens to one of your packages.
<sect2>
of the package in testing is out of sync on the different arches: Then
any arch might just upgrade to the version of the source package;
however, this can happen only if the package was previously forced
-through, or the arch is in fuckedarches.
+through, the arch is in fuckedarches, or there was no binary package of that
+arch present in unstable at all during the testing migration.
<p>
In summary this means: The only influence that a package being in testing
has on a new version of the same package is that the new version might
<p>
The packages are looked at to determine whether they are valid
candidates. This gives the "update excuses". The most common reasons
-why a package is not considered are too young, RC-bugginess and out of
+why a package is not considered are too young, RC-bugginess, and out of
date on some arches. For this part, the release managers have hammers
of any size to force britney to consider a package. (Also, the base
freeze is coded in that part of britney.) (There is a similar thing
for binary-only updates, but this is not described here. If you're
-interessted in that, please use the code.)
+interested in that, please peruse the code.)
<p>
Now, the more complex part happens: Britney tries to update testing with
the valid candidates; first, each package alone, and then larger and even
-larger sets of packages together. Each try is accepted if sarge is not
-more uninstallable after the update as before. (Before and after this part,
+larger sets of packages together. Each try is accepted if unstable is not
+more uninstallable after the update than before. (Before and after this part,
some hints are processed; but as only release masters can hint, this is
probably not so important for you.)
<p>
Keep in mind that packages uploaded there are not automatically processed, they
have to go through the hands of the release manager. So you'd better have a good
reason to upload there. In order to know what a good reason is in the
-release manager's eyes, you should read the instructions that he regularly
-gives on &email-debian-devel-announce;.
+release managers' eyes, you should read the instructions that they regularly
+give on &email-debian-devel-announce;.
<p>
You should not upload to <em>testing-proposed-updates</em> when you can update your
packages through <em>unstable</em>. If you can't (for example because you have a
-newer development version in unstable), you may use it but it is recommended to ask
-the authorization of the release manager before. Even if a package is
+newer development version in unstable), you may use this facility,
+but it is recommended that you ask for authorization from
+the release manager first.
+Even if a package is
frozen, updates through unstable are possible, if the upload via unstable
-does not pulls an new dependency in.
+does not pull in any new dependencies.
<p>
Version numbers are usually selected by adding the codename of the testing
-distribution and a incrementing number, like 1.2sarge1 for the first upload
-through testing-proposed-updates of the package version 1.2.
+distribution and a running number, like 1.2sarge1 for the first upload
+through testing-proposed-updates of package version 1.2.
+ <p>
+Please make sure you didn't miss any of these items in your upload:
+<list>
+<item> Make sure that your package really needs to go through
+<em>testing-proposed-updates</em>, and can't go through unstable;
+<item> Make sure that you included only the minimal amount of changes;
+<item> Make sure that you included an appropriate explanation in the
+changelog;
+<item> Make sure that you've written <em>testing</em> or
+<em>testing-proposed-updates</em> into your target distribution;
+<item> Make sure that you've built and tested your package in
+<em>testing</em>, not in <em>unstable</em>;
+<item> Make sure that your version number is higher than the version in
+<em>testing</em> and <em>testing-proposed-updates</em>, and lower than in
+<em>unstable</em>;
+<item> After uploading and successful build on all platforms, contact the
+release team at &email-debian-release; and ask them to approve your upload.
+</list>
<sect1 id="faq">
<sect2 id="rc">
<heading>What are release-critical bugs, and how do they get counted?</heading>
<p>
-All bugs of some higher severities are by default considered release-critical; currently, these are critical, grave and serious bugs.
+All bugs of some higher severities are by default considered release-critical; currently, these are critical, grave, and serious bugs.
<p>
Such bugs are presumed to have an impact on the chances that the package will be released with the stable release of Debian: in general, if a package has open release-critical bugs filed on it, it won't get into "testing", and consequently won't be released in "stable".
<p>
-The "testing" bug count for a package is considered to be roughly the bug count at the last point when the "testing" version equalled the "unstable" version. The bugs tagged woody or sarge will not be counted. Bugs with the sid tag will be counted, though.
+The unstable bug count are all release-critical bugs
+without either any release-tag (such as potato, woody) or with release-tag sid;
+also, only if they are neither fixed nor set to sarge-ignore.
+The "testing" bug count for a package is considered to be roughly
+the bug count of unstable count at the last point
+when the "testing" version equalled the "unstable" version.
+ <p>
+This will change post-sarge, as soon as we have versions in the bug tracking system.
<sect2>
<heading>How could installing a package into "testing" possibly break other packages?</heading>
<p>
-The structure of the distribution archives is such that they can only contain one version of a package; a package is defined by its name. So, when the source package acmefoo is installed into "testing", along with its binary packages acme-foo-bin, acme-bar-bin, libacme-foo1 and libacme-foo-dev, the old version is removed.
+The structure of the distribution archives is such that they can only contain one version of a package; a package is defined by its name. So when the source package acmefoo is installed into "testing", along with its binary packages acme-foo-bin, acme-bar-bin, libacme-foo1 and libacme-foo-dev, the old version is removed.
<p>
However, the old version may have provided a binary package with an old soname of a library, such as libacme-foo0. Removing the old acmefoo will remove libacme-foo0, which will break any packages which depend on it.
<p>
-Evidently, this mainly affects packages which provide changing sets of binary packages in different versions (in turn, mainly libraries). However, it will also affect packages upon which versioned dependencies have been declared of the ==, <= or << varieties.
+Evidently, this mainly affects packages which provide changing sets of binary packages in different versions (in turn, mainly libraries). However, it will also affect packages upon which versioned dependencies have been declared of the ==, <=, or << varieties.
<p>
-When the set of binary packages provided by a source package change in this way, all the packages that depended on the old binaries will have to be updated to depend on the new binaries instead. Because installing such a source package into "testing" breaks all the packages that depended on it in "testing", some care now has to be taken: all the depending packages must be updated and ready to be installed themselves so that they won't be broken, and, once everything is ready, manual intervention by the release manager or an assistant is normally required.
+When the set of binary packages provided by a source package change in this way, all the packages that depended on the old binaries will have to be updated to depend on the new binaries instead. Because installing such a source package into "testing" breaks all the packages that depended on it in "testing", some care has to be taken now: all the depending packages must be updated and ready to be installed themselves so that they won't be broken, and, once everything is ready, manual intervention by the release manager or an assistant is normally required.
<p>
If you are having problems with complicated groups of packages like this, contact debian-devel or debian-release for help.
</sect>
Helper scripts take care of these issues. Assuming you comply with
the conventions expected by the helper script, the helper takes care
of all the details. Changes in policy can be made in the helper
-script, then packages just need to be rebuilt with the new version of
+script; then packages just need to be rebuilt with the new version of
the helper and no other changes.
<p>
<ref id="tools"> contains a couple of different helpers. The most
have? What outstanding features and deficiencies are there compared
to other packages (e.g., "if you need X, use Y instead")? Is this
package related to other packages in some way that is not handled by
-the package manager (e.g., "this is the client to the foo server")?
+the package manager (e.g., "this is the client for the foo server")?
<p>
Be careful to avoid spelling and grammar mistakes. Ensure that you
spell-check it. <prgn>ispell</prgn> has a special <tt>-g</tt> option
<example>ispell -d american -g debian/control</example>
<p>
-User usually expect these questions to be answered in the package
-description.
+Users usually expect these questions to be answered in the package
+description:
<list>
<item>
What does the package do? If it is an add-on to another package,
-then the short description of the package we are an add on to
+then the short description of the package we are an add-on to
should be put in here.
<item>
-Why should I want this package? This is related to the above,
+Why should I want this package? This is related to the above,
but not the same (this is a mail user agent; this is cool, fast,
-interfaces with pgp and ldap and imap, has features X, Y, and Z).
+interfaces with PGP and LDAP and IMAP, has features X, Y, and Z).
<item>
If this package should not be installed directly, but is pulled in
by another package, this should be mentioned.
<item>
How is this package different from the competition? Is it a better
implementation? more features? different features? Why should I
-choose this package (2. should talk about the class of packages, and
+choose this package.
+<!-- FIXME: what's this?
+(the second questions is about the class of packages, and
this about this particular package, if you have information related to both).
+-->
</list>
</sect1>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="bpp-news-debian">
- <heading>Suplimenting changelogs with NEWS.Debian files</heading>
+ <heading>Supplementing changelogs with NEWS.Debian files</heading>
<p>
Important news about changes in a package can also be put in NEWS.Debian
files. The news will be displayed by tools like apt-listchanges, before
functionality provided with that script, please install the new
package.
- -- Steve Greenland <stevegr&debian.org> Sat, 6 Sep 2003 17:15:03 -0500
+ -- Steve Greenland <stevegr@debian.org> Sat, 6 Sep 2003 17:15:03 -0500
</example>
<p>
The NEWS.Debian file is installed as
<p>
Keep the maintainer scripts as simple as possible. We suggest you use
pure POSIX shell scripts. Remember, if you do need any bash features,
-the maintainer script must have a bash sh-bang line. POSIX shell or
+the maintainer script must have a bash shebang line. POSIX shell or
Bash are preferred to Perl, since they enable
<package>debhelper</package> to easily add bits to the scripts.
<p>
something like
<example>if [ -x /usr/sbin/install-docs ]; then ...</example>
-If you don't wish to hard-code the path of the command in your
+If you don't wish to hard-code the path of a command in your
maintainer script, the following POSIX-compliant shell function may
help:
Debconf is a great tool but it is often poorly used. Many common mistakes
are listed in the <manref name="debconf-devel" section="7"> man page.
It is something that you must read if you decide to use debconf.
+Also, we document some best practices here.
+ <p>
+These guidelines include some writing style and typography
+recommendations, general considerations about debconf usage as well as
+more specific recommendations for some parts of the distribution (for
+instance, the installation system).
+
+ <sect1>Do not abuse debconf
+ <p>
+Since debconf appeared in Debian, it has been widely abused and
+several criticisms received by the Debian distribution come from
+debconf abuse with the need of answering a wide bunch of questions
+before getting any little thing installed.
+ <p>
+Keep usage notes to what they belong: the NEWS.Debian, or
+README.Debian file. Only use notes for important notes which may
+directly affect the package usability. Remember that notes will always
+block the install until confirmed or bother the user by email.
+ <p>
+Carefully choose the questions priorities in maintainer scripts. See
+<manref name="debconf-devel" section="7"> for details about priorities.
+Most questions should use medium and low priorities.
+
+ <sect1>General recommendations for authors and translators
+ <p>
+ <sect2>Write correct English
+ <p>
+Most Debian package maintainers are not native English speakers. So,
+writing properly phrased templates may not be easy for them.
+ <p>
+Please use (and abuse) debian-l10n-english@lists.debian.org mailing
+list. Have your templates proofread.
+ <p>
+Badly written templates give a poor image of your package, of your
+work...or even of Debian itself.
+ <p>
+Avoid technical jargon as much as possible. If some terms sound common
+to you, they may be impossible to understand for others. If you cannot
+avoid them, try to explain them (use the extended description). When
+doing so, try to balance between verbosity and simplicity.
+
+ <sect2>Be kind to translators
+ <p>
+Debconf templates may be translated. Debconf, along with its sister
+package po-debconf offers a simple framework for getting
+templates translated by translation teams or even individuals.
+ <p>
+Please use gettext-based templates. Install po-debconf on your
+development system and read its documentation ("man po-debconf" is a
+good start).
+ <p>
+Avoid changing templates too often. Changing templates text induces
+more work to translators which will get their translation "fuzzied". If
+you plan changes to your original templates, please contact
+translators. Most active translators are very reactive and getting
+their work included along with your modified templates will save you
+additional uploads. If you use gettext-based templates, the
+translator's name and e-mail addresses are mentioned in the po files
+headers.
+ <p>
+If in doubt, you may also contact the translation team for a given
+language (debian-l10n-xxxxx@lists.debian.org), or the
+debian-i18n@lists.debian.org mailing list.
+
+ <sect2>Do not make assumptions about interfaces
+ <p>
+Templates text should not make reference to widgets belonging to some
+debconf interfaces. Sentences like "If you answer Yes..." have no
+meaning for users of graphical interfaces which use checkboxes for
+boolean questions.
+ <p>
+More generally speaking, try to avoid referring to user actions.
+Just give facts.
+
+ <sect2>Do not use first person
+ <p>
+You should avoid the use of first person ("I will do this..." or "We
+recommend..."). The computer is not a person and the Debconf tempaltes
+do not speak for the Debian developers. You should use neutral
+construction and often the passive form. Those of you who already
+wrote scientific publications, just write your templates like you
+would write a scientific paper.
+
+ <sect2>Be gender neutral
+ <p>
+The world is made of men and women. Please use gender-neutral
+constructions in your writing. This is not Political Correctness, this
+is showing respect to all humanity.
+
+
+ <sect1>Templates fields definition
+ <p>
+This part gives some information which is mostly taken from the
+<manref name="debconf-devel" section="7"> manual page.
+
+ <sect2>Type
+ <p>
+
+ <sect3>string:
+ <p>
+Results in a free-form input field that the user can type any string into.
+
+ <sect3>password:
+ <p>
+Prompts the user for a password. Use this with caution; be aware that
+the password the user enters will be written to debconf's
+database. You should probably clean that value out of the database as
+soon as is possible.
+
+ <sect3>boolean:
+ <p>
+A true/false choice. Remember: true/false, NOT YES/NO...
+
+ <sect3>select:
+ <p>
+A choice between one of a number of values. The choices must be
+specified in a field named 'Choices'. Separate the possible values
+with commas and spaces, like this: Choices: yes, no, maybe
+
+ <sect3>multiselect:
+ <p>
+Like the select data type, except the user can choose any number of
+
+ items from the choices list (or chose none of them).
+
+ <sect3>note:
+ <p>
+Rather than being a question per se, this datatype indicates a note
+that can be displayed to the user. It should be used only for
+important notes that the user really should see, since debconf will go
+to great pains to make sure the user sees it; halting the install for
+them to press a key, and even mailing the note to them in some
+cases.
+
+ <sect3>text:
+ <p>
+This type is now considered obsolete: don't use it.
+
+ <sect3>error:
+ <p>
+<strong>THIS TEMPLATE TYPE IS NOT HANDLED BY DEBCONF YET.</strong>
+ <p>
+It has been added to cdebconf, the C version of debconf, first used in
+the Debian Installer.
+ <p>
+Please do not use it unless debconf supports it.
+ <p>
+This type is designed to handle error message. It is mostly similar to
+the "note" type. Frontends may present it differently (for instance,
+the dialog frontend of cdebconf draws a red screen instead of the
+usual blue one).
+
+
+ <sect2>Description: short and extended description
+ <p>
+Templates descriptions have two parts: short and extended. The short
+description is in the "Description:" line of the template.
+ <p>
+The short description should be kept short (50 characters or so) so
+that it may be accomodated by most debconf interfaces. Keeping it
+short also helps translators, as usually translations tend to end up
+being longer than the original.
+ <p>
+The short description should be able to stand on its own. Some
+interfaces do not show the long description by default, or only if the
+user explicitely asks for it or even do not show it at all. Avoid
+things like "What do you want to do?"
+ <p>
+The short description does not necessarily have to be a full
+sentence. This is part of the "keep it short and efficient"
+recommendation.
+ <p>
+The extended description should not repeat the short description word
+for word. If you can't think up a long description, then first, think
+some more. Post to debian-devel. Ask for help. Take a writing class!
+That extended description is important. If after all that you still
+can't come up with anything, leave it blank.
+ <p>
+The extended description should use complete sentences. Paragraphs
+should be kept short for improved readability. Do not mix two ideas
+in the same paragraph but rather use another paragraph.
+ <p>
+Don't be too verbose. Some debconf interfaces cannot deal very well
+with descriptions of more than about 20 lines, so try to keep it below
+this limit.
+ <p>
+For specific rules depending on templates type (string, boolean,
+etc.), please read below.
+
+ <sect2>Choices
+ <p>
+This field should be used for Select and Multiselect types. It
+contains the possible choices which will be presented to users. These
+choices should be separated by commas.
+
+
+ <sect2>Default
+ <p>
+This field is optional. It contains the default answer for string,
+select and multiselect templates. For multiselect templates, it may
+contain a comma-separated list of choices.
+
+ <sect1>Templates fields specific style guide
+ <p>
+
+ <sect2>Type field
+ <p>
+No specific indication except: use the appropriate type by referring
+to the previous section.
+
+ <sect2>Description field
+ <p>
+Below are specific instructions for properly writing the Description
+(short and extended) depending on the template type.
+
+ <sect3>String/password templates
+ <p>
+<list>
+<item> The short description is a prompt and NOT a title. Avoid
+ question style prompts ("IP Address?") in favour of
+ "opened" prompts ("IP address:").
+ The use of colons is recommended.
+
+<item> The extended description is a complement to the short description.
+ In the extended part, explain what is being asked, rather than ask
+ the same question again using longer words. Use complete sentences.
+ Terse writing style is strongly discouraged.
+</list>
+
+ <sect3>Boolean templates
+ <p>
+<list>
+<item> The short description should be phrased in the form of a question
+ which should be kept short and should generally end with a question
+ mark. Terse writing style is permitted and even encouraged if the
+ question is rather long (remember that translations are often longer
+ than original versions)
+
+<item> The extended description should NOT include a question.
+
+<item> Again, please avoid referring to specific interface widgets. A common
+ mistake for such templates is "if you answer Yes"-type
+ constructions.
+</list>
+
+ <sect3>Select/Multiselect
+ <p>
+<list>
+<item> The short description is a prompt and NOT a title. Do NOT use useless
+ "Please choose..." constructions. Users are clever enough to figure
+ out they have to choose something...:)
+
+<item> The extended description will complete the short description. It may
+ refer to the available choices. It may also mention that the user
+ may choose more than one of the available choices, if the template
+ is a multiselect one (although the interface often makes this
+ clear).
+</list>
+
+ <sect3>Notes
+ <p>
+<list>
+<item> The short description should be considered to be a *title*.
+
+<item> The extended description is what will be displayed as a more detailed
+ explanation of the note. Phrases, no terse writing style.
+
+<item> DO NOT ABUSE DEBCONF. Notes are the most common way to abuse
+ debconf. As written in debconf-devel manual page: it's best to use them
+ only for warning about very serious problems. The NEWS.Debian or
+ README.Debian files are the appropriate location for a lot of notes.
+ If, by reading this, you consider converting your Note type templates
+ to entries in NEWS/Debian or README.Debian, plus consider keeping existing
+ translations for the future.
+</list>
+
+
+ <sect2>Choices field
+ <p>
+If the Choices are likely to change often, please consider using the
+"__Choices" trick. This will split each individual choice into a
+single string, which will considerably help translators for doing
+their work.
+
+ <sect2>Default field
+ <p>
+If the default value, for a "select" template, is likely to vary
+depending on the user language (for instance, if the choice is a
+language choice), please use the "_DefaultChoice" trick.
+ <p>
+This special field allow translators to put the most appropriate
+choice according to their own language. It will become the default
+choice when their language is used while your own mentioned Default
+Choice will be used chan using English.
+ <p>
+Example, taken from the geneweb package templates:
+<example>
+Template: geneweb/lang
+Type: select
+__Choices: Afrikaans (af), Bulgarian (bg), Catalan (ca), Chinese (zh), Czech (cs), Danish (da), Dutch (nl), English (en), Esperanto (eo), Estonian (et), Finnish (fi), French (fr), German (de), Hebrew (he), Icelandic (is), Italian (it), Latvian (lv), Norwegian (no), Polish (pl), Portuguese (pt), Romanian (ro), Russian (ru), Spanish (es), Swedish (sv)
+# This is the default choice. Translators may put their own language here
+# instead of the default.
+# WARNING : you MUST use the ENGLISH FORM of your language
+# For instance, the french translator will need to put "French (fr)" here.
+_DefaultChoice: English (en)[ translators, please see comment in PO files]
+_Description: Geneweb default language:
+</example>
+ <p>
+Note the use of brackets which allow internal comments in debconf
+fields. Also note the use of comments which will show up in files the
+translators will work with.
+ <p>
+The comments are needed as the DefaultChoice trick is a bit
+confusing: the translators may put their own choice
+
+ <sect2>Default field
+ <p>
+Do NOT use empty default field. If you don't want to use default
+values, do not use Default at all.
+ <p>
+If you use po-debconf (and you SHOULD, see 2.2), consider making this
+field translatable, if you think it may be translated.
+ <p>
+If the default value may vary depending on language/country (for
+instance the default value for a language choice), consider using the
+special "_DefaultChoice" type documented in <manref name="po-debconf" section="7">).
</sect>
any language-independent information and define those as entities in a
separate file which is included by all the different
translations. This makes it much easier, for instance, to keep URLs
-up-to-date across multiple files.
+up to date across multiple files.
</sect1>
</sect>
<prgn>autoconf</prgn>/<prgn>automake</prgn></heading>
<p>
Keeping <prgn>autoconf</prgn>'s <file>config.sub</file> and
-<file>config.guess</file> files up-to-date is critical for porters,
+<file>config.guess</file> files up to date is critical for porters,
especially on more volatile architectures. Some very good packaging
practices for any package using <prgn>autoconf</prgn> and/or
<prgn>automake</prgn> have been synthesized in
Libraries are always difficult to package for various reasons. The policy
imposes many constraints to ease their maintenance and to make sure
upgrades are as simple as possible when a new upstream version comes out.
-A breakage in a library can result in dozens of dependent packages
+Breakage in a library can result in dozens of dependent packages
breaking.
<p>
Good practices for library packaging have been grouped in
Lisp packages should register themselves with
<package>common-lisp-controller</package>, about which see
&file-lisp-controller;.
+<!-- TODO: mozilla extension policy, once that becomes available -->
</list>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="bpp-transition">
<heading>Make transition packages deborphan compliant</heading>
<p>
-Deborphan is a program helping users to detect which packages can be safely
+Deborphan is a program for helping users to detect which packages can safely be
removed from the system, i.e. the ones that have no packages depending on
them. The default operation is to search only within the libs and oldlibs
sections, to hunt down unused libraries. But when passed the right argument,
it tries to catch other useless packages.
<p>
-For example, with --guess-dummy, tries to search all transitional packages
+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 that,
it looks for the string "dummy" or "transitional" in their short
description.
<p>
So, when you are creating such a package, please make sure to add this text
-to your short description. If you are looking for example, just run:
+to your short description. If you are looking for examples, just run:
<example>apt-cache search .|grep dummy</example> or
<example>apt-cache search .|grep transitional</example>.
</sect1>
will usually invoke <prgn>querybts</prgn> before sending, too).
<p>
Try to direct your bugs to the proper location. When for example
-your bug is about a package that overwrites files from another package,
+your bug is about a package which overwrites files from another package,
check the bug lists for <em>both</em> of those packages in order to
avoid filing duplicate bug reports.
<p>
possible. If you do not find that possible, then you should consider
orphaning some of your packages (see <ref
id="orphaning">). Alternatively, you may ask the help of other people
-in order to catch up the backlog of bugs that you have (you can ask
+in order to catch up with the backlog of bugs that you have (you can ask
for help on &email-debian-qa; or &email-debian-devel;). At the same
time, you can look for co-maintainers (see <ref id="collaborative-maint">).
<p>
From time to time the QA group organizes bug squashing parties to get rid of
as many problems as possible. They are announced on &email-debian-devel-announce;
-and the announce explains what area will be focused on during the party:
+and the announcement explains which area will be the focus of the party:
usually they focus on release critical bugs but it may happen that they
-decide to help finish a major upgrade going on (like a new perl version
+decide to help finish a major upgrade (like a new perl version
which requires recompilation of all the binary modules).
<p>
The rules for non-maintainer uploads differ during the parties because
-the announce of the party is considered like a prior notice for NMU. If
+the announcement of the party is considered prior notice for NMU. If
you have packages that may be affected by the party (because they have
release critical bugs for example), you should send an update to each of
the corresponding bug to explain their current status and what you expect
<p>
People participating in the party have special rules for NMU, they can
NMU without prior notice if they upload their NMU to
-DELAYED/3-day at least. All other NMU rules applies as usually, they
-should send the patch of the NMU in the BTS (in one of the open bugs
-fixed by the NMU or in a new bug tagged fixed). They should
-also respect the maintainer's wishes if he expressed some.
+DELAYED/3-day at least. All other NMU rules apply as usually; they
+should send the patch of the NMU to the BTS (to one of the open bugs
+fixed by the NMU, or to a new bug, tagged fixed). They should
+also respect any particular wishes of the maintainer.
<p>
-If someone doesn't feel confident with an NMU, he should just send a patch
+If you don't feel confident about doing an NMU, just send a patch
to the BTS. It's far better than a broken NMU.
subscribed to a given source package via <ref id="pkg-tracking-system">.
You can do so by using the <tt><package-name>@&pts-host;</tt>
email address.
-
+<!-- FIXME: moo@packages.d.o is easily confused with moo@packages.qa.d.o -->
<sect id="mia-qa">Dealing with inactive and/or unreachable maintainers
<p>
it is also possible that they just need a reminder.
<p>
There is a simple system (the MIA database) in which information about
-maintainers who are deemed inactive are recorded. When a member of the
+maintainers who are deemed Missing In Action are recorded. When a member of the
QA group contacts an inactive maintainer or finds more information about
-them, this is recorded in the MIA database. This system is available
+one, this is recorded in the MIA database. This system is available
in /org/qa.debian.org/mia on the host qa.debian.org, and can be queried
with a tool known as <prgn>mia-history</prgn>. By default,
<prgn>mia-history</prgn> shows information about every person it knows
match user names. <example>mia-history --help</example> shows which
arguments are accepted. If you find that no information has been recorded
about an inactive maintainer already, or that you can add more information,
-you will generally proceed as follows.
+you should generally proceed as follows.
<p>
The first step is to politely contact the maintainer, and wait for a
-response, for a reasonable time. It is quite hard to define "reasonable
+response for a reasonable time. It is quite hard to define "reasonable
time", but it is important to take into account that real life is sometimes
-very hectic. One way to handle this would be send a reminder after two
+very hectic. One way to handle this would be to send a reminder after two
weeks.
<p>
If the maintainer doesn't reply within four weeks (a month), one can
<list>
<item>The "echelon" information available through the
<url id="&url-debian-db;" name="developers' LDAP database">,
- which indicates when's the last time a developer has posted to
+ which indicates when the developer last has posted to
a Debian mailing list. (This includes uploads via
debian-*-changes lists.) Also, remember to check whether the
maintainer is marked as "on vacation" in the database.
any RC bugs that have been open for ages? Furthermore, how
many bugs are there in general? Another important piece of
information is whether the packages have been NMUed, and if
- so, by whom?
+ so, by whom.
<item>Is there any activity of the maintainer outside of Debian?
For example, they might have posted something recently to
cannot dedicate all of our time to Debian. Also, you are not aware of the
circumstances of the person who is involved. Perhaps they might be
seriously ill or might even had died — you do not know who may be on the
-receiving side — imagine how a relative will feel if they read the e-mail
+receiving side. Imagine how a relative will feel if they read the e-mail
of the deceased and find a very impolite, angry and accusing message!)
<p>
On the other hand, although we are volunteers, we do have a responsibility.
the package meets minimum Debian standards. That implies that you
must build and test the package on your own system before uploading.
<p>
-You can not simply upload a binary <file>.deb</file> from the sponsoree. In
+You cannot simply upload a binary <file>.deb</file> from the sponsoree. In
theory, you should only ask for the diff file and the location of the
original source tarball, and then you should download the source and apply
the diff yourself. In practice, you may want to use the source package
Once the package meets Debian standards, build and sign it with
<example>dpkg-buildpackage -k<var>KEY-ID</var></example>
before uploading it to the incoming directory. Of course, you can also
-use any part of your <var>KEY-ID</var>, as long as it's uniq in your
+use any part of your <var>KEY-ID</var>, as long as it's unique in your
secret keyring.
<p>
The Maintainer field of the <file>control</file> file and the
and being translated
<p>
Debian supports an ever-increasing number of natural languages. Even if you are
-native English speaker and do not speak any other language, it is part of your
+a native English speaker and do not speak any other language, it is part of your
duty as a maintainer to be aware of issues of internationalization (abbreviated
i18n because there are 18 letters between the 'i' and the 'n' in
-internationalization). Therefore, even if you are ok with English only
+internationalization). Therefore, even if you are ok with English-only
programs, you should read most of this chapter.
<p>
According to <url id="http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/intro-i18n/"
"L10N (localization) means implementation of a specific language for an already
internationalized software."
<p>
-l10n and i18n are tied, but the difficulties related to each of them are very
+l10n and i18n are interconnected, but the difficulties related to each of them are very
different. It's not really difficult to allow a program to change the language
in which texts are displayed based on user settings, but it is very time
consuming to actually translate these messages. On the other hand, setting the
character encoding is trivial, but adapting the code to use several character
encodings is a really hard problem.
<p>
-Letting alone the i18n problems, where no general receipt exist, there is
+Setting aside the i18n problems, where no general guideline can be given, there is
actually no central infrastructure for l10n within Debian which could be
-compared to the dbuild mechanism for porting. So, most of the work has to be
+compared to the dbuild mechanism for porting. So most of the work has to be
done manually.
The only centralized resource within Debian is the <url
id="http://www.debian.org/intl/l10n/" name="Central Debian translation
statistics">, where you can find some statistics about the translation files
-found in the actual package, but no real infrastructure to ease the translation
+found in the actual packages, but no real infrastructure to ease the translation
process.
<p>
-An effort to translate the package descriptions started long ago even if very
-few support is offered by the tools to actually use them (ie, only APT can use
-them, when configured correctly). There is nothing to do for the maintainers,
-and the translators should use the <url id="http://ddtp.debian.org/"
+An effort to translate the package descriptions started long ago, even if very
+little support is offered by the tools to actually use them (i.e., only APT can use
+them, when configured correctly). Maintainers don't need to do
+anything special to support translated package descriptions;
+translators should use the <url id="http://ddtp.debian.org/"
name="DDTP">.
<p>
-For debconf templates, maintainer should use the po-debconf package to ease the
-work of translators, which could use the DDTP to do their work (but French and
+For debconf templates, maintainers should use the po-debconf package to ease the
+work of translators, who could use the DDTP to do their work (but the French and
Brazilian teams don't). Some statistics can be found both on the DDTP site
(about what is actually translated), and on the <url
id="http://www.debian.org/intl/l10n/" name="Central Debian translation
statistics"> site (about what is integrated in the packages).
- p>
+ <p>
For web pages, each l10n team has access to the relevant CVS, and the statistics
are available from the Central Debian translation statistics site.
<p>
For general documentation about Debian, the process is more or less the same
-than for the web pages (the translators have an access to the CVS), but there is
+than for the web pages (the translators have access to the CVS), but there are
no statistics pages.
<p>
-For package specific documentation (man pages, info document, other formats),
-almost everything have yet to be done. Most notably, the KDE project handles
+For package-specific documentation (man pages, info documents, other formats),
+almost everything remains to be done.
+ <p>
+Most notably, the KDE project handles
translation of its documentation in the same way as its program messages.
-Debian specific man pages begin to be handled within a <url
+ <p>
+There is an effort to handle Debian-specific man pages
+within a <url
id="http://cvs.debian.org/manpages/?cvsroot=debian-doc" name="specific CVS
-repository"> .
+repository">.
<sect id="l10n-faqm">I18N & L10N FAQ for maintainers
<p>
This is a list of problems that maintainers may face concerning i18n and l10n.
-While reading this, keep in mind that there is no real consensus on those
-points within Debian, and that they are only advices. If you have a better idea
+While reading this, keep in mind that there is no real consensus on these
+points within Debian, and that this is only advice. If you have a better idea
for a given problem, or if you disagree on some points, feel free to provide
your feedback, so that this document can be enhanced.
- <sect1 id="l10n-faqm-tr">How to get a given text translated?
+ <sect1 id="l10n-faqm-tr">How to get a given text translated
<p>
-To translate package description or debconf templates, you have nothing to do,
+To translate package descriptions or debconf templates, you have nothing to do;
the DDTP infrastructure will dispatch the material to translate to volunteers
with no need for interaction from your part.
<p>
-For all other material (gettext files, man pages or other documentation), the
-best solution is to put your text somewhere on Internet, and ask on debian-i18n
-for a translation in the different languages. Some translation team members are
+For all other material (gettext files, man pages, or other documentation), the
+best solution is to put your text somewhere on the Internet, and ask on debian-i18n
+for a translation in different languages. Some translation team members are
subscribed to this list, and they will take care of the translation and of the
-reviewing process. Once done, you will get your translated document from them
+reviewing process. Once they are done, you will get your translated document from them
in your mailbox.
- <sect1 id="l10n-faqm-rev">How to get a given translation reviewed?
+ <sect1 id="l10n-faqm-rev">How to get a given translation reviewed
<p>
->From time to time, individuals translate some texts included in your package
-and will ask you for inclusion in the package. This can become problematic if
+From time to time, individuals translate some texts in your package
+and will ask you for inclusion of the translation in the package. This can become problematic if
you are not fluent in the given language. It is a good idea to send the
document to the corresponding l10n mailing list, asking for a review. Once it
has been done, you should feel more confident in the quality of the
-translation, and include it fearlessly into your package.
+translation, and feel safe to include it in your package.
- <sect1 id="l10n-faqm-update">How to get a given translation updated?
+ <sect1 id="l10n-faqm-update">How to get a given translation updated
<p>
-If you have some translations of a given text laying around, each time you
-update the original, you should kindly ask to the previous translator to update
-his/her work to make the translation up to date with regard to the current
-original text. Keep in mind that this task takes time, at least one week to get
+If you have some translations of a given text lying around, each time you
+update the original, you should ask the previous translator to update
+the translation with your new changes.
+Keep in mind that this task takes time; at least one week to get
the update reviewed and all.
<p>
-If the translator is unresponsive, you may ask for help to the corresponding
+If the translator is unresponsive, you may ask for help on the corresponding
l10n mailing list. If everything fails, don't forget to put a warning in the
translated document, stating that the translation is somehow outdated, and that
the reader should refer to the original document if possible.
<p>
-Avoid removing completely a translation because it is outdated. An old
+Avoid removing a translation completely because it is outdated. Old
documentation is often better than no documentation at all for non-English
-speaker.
+speakers.
- <sect1 id="l10n-faqm-bug">How to handle a bug report concerning a translation?
+ <sect1 id="l10n-faqm-bug">How to handle a bug report concerning a translation
<p>
The best solution may be to mark the bug as "forwarded to upstream", and
forward it to both the previous translator and his/her team (using the
corresponding debian-l10n-XXX mailing list).
+<!-- TODO: add the i18n tag to the bug? -->
<sect id="l10n-faqtr">I18N & L10N FAQ for translators
<p>
While reading this, please keep in mind that there is no general procedure
-within Debian concerning those points, and that in any case, you should
+within Debian concerning these points, and that in any case, you should
collaborate with your team and the package maintainer.
- <sect1 id="l10n-faqtr-help">How to help the translation effort?
+ <sect1 id="l10n-faqtr-help">How to help the translation effort
<p>
Choose what you want to translate, make sure that nobody is already working on
it (using your debian-l10n-XXX mailing list), translate it, get it reviewed by
other native speakers on your l10n mailing list, and provide it to the
maintainer of the package (see next point).
- <sect1 id="l10n-faqtr-inc">How to provide a translation for inclusion in a package?
+ <sect1 id="l10n-faqtr-inc">How to provide a translation for inclusion in a package
<p>
Make sure your translation is correct (asking for review on your l10n mailing
list) before providing it for inclusion. It will save time for everyone, and
bug reports.
<p>
The best solution is to fill a regular bug containing the translation against
-the package. Make sure to use the 'PATCH' tag, and to not use a gravity higher
+the package. Make sure to use the 'PATCH' tag, and to not use a severity higher
than 'wishlist', since the lack of translation never prevented a program from
running.
<item>
In any case, remember that the major issue with l10n is that it requires
several people to cooperate, and that it is very easy to start a flamewar about
-small problems because of misunderstanding. So, if you have problems with your
+small problems because of misunderstandings. So if you have problems with your
interlocutor, ask for help on the corresponding l10n mailing list, on
debian-i18n, or even on debian-devel (but beware, l10n discussions very often
become flamewars on that list :)
maintainers. The following is by no means complete or definitive, but
just a guide to some of the more popular tools.
<p>
-Debian maintainer tools are meant to help convenience developers and
+Debian maintainer tools are meant to aid developers and
free their time for critical tasks. As Larry Wall says, there's more
than one way to do it.
<p>
some do not. Debian is officially agnostic on this issue; any tool
which gets the job done is fine. Therefore, this section is not meant
to stipulate to anyone which tools they should use or how they should
-go about with their duties of maintainership. Nor is it meant to
+go about their duties of maintainership. Nor is it meant to
endorse any particular tool to the exclusion of a competing tool.
<p>
Most of the descriptions of these packages come from the actual
<heading><package>dpkg-dev</package>
<p>
<package>dpkg-dev</package> contains the tools (including
-<prgn>dpkg-source</prgn>) required to unpack, build and upload Debian
+<prgn>dpkg-source</prgn>) required to unpack, build, and upload Debian
source packages. These utilities contain the fundamental, low-level
-functionality required to create and manipulated packages; as such,
-they are required for any Debian maintainer.
+functionality required to create and manipulate packages; as such,
+they are essential for any Debian maintainer.
<sect1 id="debconf">
<heading><package>debconf</package></heading>
configuring packages interactively. It is user interface
independent, allowing end-users to configure packages with a
text-only interface, an HTML interface, or a dialog interface. New
-interfaces can be added modularly.
+interfaces can be added as modules.
<p>
You can find documentation for this package in the
<package>debconf-doc</package> package.
<p>
-Many feel that this system should be used for all packages requiring
+Many feel that this system should be used for all packages which require
interactive configuration; see <ref id="bpp-config-mgmt">.
<package>debconf</package> is not currently required by Debian Policy,
but that may change in the future.
you to build packages without being root (packages usually want to
install files with root ownership). If you have
<package>fakeroot</package> installed, you can build packages as a
-user: <tt>dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot</tt>.
+regular user: <tt>dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot</tt>.
</sect1>
</sect>
is "a Unix C language processor which carries out more thorough checks
on the code than is usual with C compilers." Package lint tools help
package maintainers by automatically finding common problems and
-policy violations with their packages.</p>
+policy violations in their packages.</p>
<sect1 id="lintian">
<heading><package>lintian</package></heading>
<p>
<package>lintian</package> dissects Debian packages and emits
-information on bugs
+information about bugs
and policy violations. It contains automated checks for many aspects
of Debian policy as well as some checks for common errors.
<p>
You should periodically get the newest <package>lintian</package> from
`unstable' and check over all your packages. Notice that the <tt>-i</tt>
option provides detailed explanations of what each error or warning means,
-what is its basis in Policy, and commonly how you can fix the problem.
+what its basis in Policy is, and commonly how you can fix the problem.
<p>
Refer to <ref id="sanitycheck"> for more information on how and when
to use Lintian.
<p>
You can also see a summary of all problems reported by Lintian on your
-packages at <url id="&url-lintian;">. Those reports contain the latest
-<prgn>lintian</prgn> output on the whole development distribution
+packages at <url id="&url-lintian;">. These reports contain the latest
+<prgn>lintian</prgn> output for the whole development distribution
("unstable").
</sect1>
<prgn>debdiff</prgn> (from the <package>devscripts</package> package, <ref id="devscripts">)
compares file lists and control files of two packages. It is a simple
regression test, as it will help you notice if the number of binary
-packages has changed since the last upload, or if something's changed
+packages has changed since the last upload, or if something has changed
in the control file. Of course, some of the changes it reports will be
all right, but it can help you prevent various accidents.
<p>
<p>
Package building tools make the process of writing
<file>debian/rules</file> files easier. See <ref id="helper-scripts">
-for more information on why these might or might not be desired.
+for more information about why these might or might not be desired.
<sect1 id="debhelper">
<heading><package>debhelper</package></heading>
<p>
-<package>debhelper</package> is a collection of programs that can be
+<package>debhelper</package> is a collection of programs which can be
used in <file>debian/rules</file> to automate common tasks related to
-building binary Debian packages. Programs are included to install
+building binary Debian packages. <package>debhelper</package> includes
+programs to install
various files into your package, compress files, fix file permissions,
-integrate your package with the Debian menu system.
+and integrate your package with the Debian menu system.
<p>
Unlike some approaches, <package>debhelper</package> is broken into
-several small, granular commands which act in a consistent manner. As
-such, it allows a greater granularity of control than some of the
+several small, simple commands which act in a consistent manner. As
+such, it allows more fine-grained control than some of the
other "debian/rules tools".
<p>
There are a number of little <package>debhelper</package> add-on
<sect1 id="debmake">
<heading><package>debmake</package>
<p>
-<package>debmake</package>, a pre-cursor to
-<package>debhelper</package>, is a less granular
+<package>debmake</package>, a precursor to
+<package>debhelper</package>, is a more coarse-grained
<file>debian/rules</file> assistant. It includes two main programs:
<prgn>deb-make</prgn>, which can be used to help a maintainer convert
a regular (non-Debian) source archive into a Debian source package;
<heading><package>debootstrap</package></heading>
<p>
The <package>debootstrap</package> package and script allows you to
-"bootstrap" a Debian base system into any part of your file-system.
+"bootstrap" a Debian base system into any part of your filesystem.
By "base system", we mean the bare minimum of packages required to
operate and install the rest of the system.
<p>
Having a system like this can be useful in many ways. For instance,
you can <prgn>chroot</prgn> into it if you want to test your build
-depends. Or, you can test how your package behaves when installed
-into a bare base system. Chroot builders use this package, see below.
+dependencies. Or you can test how your package behaves when installed
+into a bare base system. Chroot builders use this package; see below.
</sect1>
<sect1 id="pbuilder">
wrong build dependencies will not exist in the resulting package.</p>
<p>
A related package is <package>pbuilder-uml</package>, which goes even
-further build doing the build within User-mode-linux.</p>
+further by doing the build within a User Mode Linux environment.</p>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="sbuild">
<heading>Maintenance automation</heading>
<p>
The following tools help automate different maintenance tasks, from
-adding changelog entries or signature lines, looking up bugs in Emacs,
-to making use of the newest and official use of
+adding changelog entries or signature lines and looking up bugs in Emacs
+to making use of the newest and official
<file>config.sub</file>.</p>
<sect1 id="devscripts">
wrapper around <prgn>dpkg-buildpackage</prgn>. The <prgn>bts</prgn>
utility is also very helpful to update the state of bug reports on the
command line. <prgn>uscan</prgn> can be used to watch for new upstream
-versions of your packages.
The <prgn>debrsign</prgn> can be used to
+versions of your packages. <prgn>debrsign</prgn> can be used to
remotely sign a package prior to upload, which is nice when the
machine you build the package on is different from where your GPG keys
are.</p>
<sect1 id="autotools-dev">
<heading><package>autotools-dev</package></heading>
<p>
-Contains best practices for people maintaining packages that use
+<package>autotools-dev</package>
+contains best practices for people who maintain packages which use
<prgn>autoconf</prgn> and/or <prgn>automake</prgn>. Also contains
canonical <file>config.sub</file> and <file>config.guess</file> files
which are known to work on all Debian ports.</p>
modified), the new package will inherit the changes.</p>
<p>
This utility can make it easy to copy packages from one computer to
-another, or to recreate packages that are installed on your system
-but no longer available elsewhere, or to store the current state of a
+another, or to recreate packages which are installed on your system
+but no longer available elsewhere, or to save the current state of a
package before you upgrade it.</p>
</sect1>
<p>
<prgn>alien</prgn> converts binary packages between various packaging
formats, including Debian, RPM (RedHat), LSB (Linux Standard Base),
-Solaris and Slackware packages.</p>
+Solaris, and Slackware packages.</p>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="debsums">
<p>
<package>dpkg-dev-el</package> is an Emacs lisp package which provides
assistance when editing some of the files in the <file>debian</file>
-directory of your package. For instance, when editing
-<file>debian/changelog</file>, there are handy functions for
-finalizing a version and listing the package's current bugs.</p>
+directory of your package. For instance,
+there are handy functions for
+listing a package's current bugs,
+and for finalizing the latest entry in a
+<file>debian/changelog</file> file.
</sect1>
<sect1 id="dpkg-depcheck">
~ianmdlvl / developers-reference.git / blobdiff