X-Git-Url: http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/ucgi/~ianmdlvl/git?p=developers-reference.git;a=blobdiff_plain;f=developers-reference.sgml;h=0b954d4337f700fec23f826cb271f46d5622a5f9;hp=380a9897c5130444ca23040bac8a196f18b09a1b;hb=108d5cca7e92773ec2ee2c543e04610e9cd49374;hpb=921736ab9f42d1294884f7741fb7ad5668caf0ad diff --git a/developers-reference.sgml b/developers-reference.sgml index 380a989..0b954d4 100644 --- a/developers-reference.sgml +++ b/developers-reference.sgml @@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ %commondata; - + @@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ -copyright ©1998, 1999 Adam Di Carlo +copyright ©1998 &ndash 2001 Adam Di Carlo copyright ©1997, 1998 Christian Schwarz

@@ -270,7 +270,7 @@ post to that list and an experienced developer will volunteer to help. There's a LDAP database containing many informations concerning all developers, you can access it at . You can update your password (this password is propagated to most of the machines -that are accessible to you), your adress, your country, the latitude and +that are accessible to you), your address, your country, the latitude and longitude of the point where you live, phone and fax numbers, your preferred shell, your IRC nickname, your web page and the email that you're using as alias for your debian.org email. Most of the information @@ -303,16 +303,17 @@ Most developers take vacations, and usually this means that they can't work for Debian and they can't be reached by email if any problem occurs. The other developers need to know that you're on vacation so that they'll do whatever is needed when such a problem occurs. Usually this means that -other developers are allowed to NMU your package if a big problem (release -critical bugs, security update, ...) occurs while you're on vacation. +other developers are allowed to NMU (see ) your package if a +big problem (release critical bugs, security update, ...) occurs while +you're on vacation.

In order to inform the other developers, there's two things that you should do. First send a mail to &email-debian-private; giving the period of time when you will be on vacation. You can also give some special instructions on what to do if any problem occurs. Next you should update your information -available in the Debian LDAP database and mark yourself as « on vacation » +available in the Debian LDAP database and mark yourself as ``on vacation'' (this information is only accessible to debian developers). Don't forget -to remove the « on vacation » flag when you come back. +to remove the ``on vacation'' flag when you come back. Coordination With Upstream Developers

@@ -336,9 +337,9 @@ need, always try not to fork from the upstream sources. Managing Release Critical Bugs

-Release Critical Bugs (RCB) are the bugs of severity -« critical », « grave » and -« important ». Those bugs can delay the Debian release +Release Critical Bugs (RCB) are all bugs that have severity +critical, grave or serious. +Those bugs can delay the Debian release and/or can justify the removal of a package at freeze time. That's why those bugs needs to be corrected as fast as possible. You must be aware that some developers who are part of the ) after trying to contact you (they might not wait as long as +usual before they do their NMU if they have seen no recent activity from you +on the BTS). Quality Assurance Effort

@@ -406,12 +407,7 @@ request to be copied. Anyone who posts to a mailing list should read it to see the responses.

The following are the core Debian mailing lists: &email-debian-devel;, -&email-debian-policy;, &email-debian-user; - - - - -, &email-debian-private;, +&email-debian-policy;, &email-debian-user;, &email-debian-private;, &email-debian-announce;, and &email-debian-devel-announce;. All developers are expected to be subscribed to at least &email-debian-private; and &email-debian-devel-announce;. There are @@ -419,7 +415,7 @@ other mailing lists are available for a variety of special topics; see for a list. Cross-posting (sending the same message to multiple lists) is discouraged.

-&email-debian-private; is a special mailing lists for private +&email-debian-private; is a special mailing list for private discussions amongst Debian developers. It is meant to be used for posts which for whatever reason should not be published publically. As such, it is a low volume list, and users are urged not to use @@ -569,35 +565,45 @@ The Debian GNU/Linux distribution consists of a lot of Debian packages (.deb's, currently around &number-of-pkgs;) and a few additional files (documentation, installation disk images, etc.).

-Here is an example directory tree of a complete Debian distribution: +Here is an example directory tree of a complete Debian archive:

&sample-dist-dirtree;

-As you can see, the top-level directory of the distribution contains -three directories, namely main, contrib, and -non-free. These directories are called sections. -

-In each section, there is a directory with the source packages -(source), a directory for each supported architecture +As you can see, the top-level directory contains two directories, +dists/ and pool/. The latter is a ``pool'' in which the +packages actually are, and which is handled by the archive maintenance +database and the accompanying programs. The former contains the +distributions, stable, testing and unstable. +Each of those distribution directories is divided in equivalent +subdirectories purpose of which is equal, so we will only explain how it +looks in stable. The Packages and Sources files in the +distribution subdirectories can reference files in the pool/ +directory. +

+dists/stable contains three directories, namely main, +contrib, and non-free. +

+In each of the areas, there is a directory with the source packages +(source), a directory for each supported architecture (binary-i386, binary-m68k, etc.), and a directory for architecture independent packages (binary-all).

-The main section contains additional directories which holds +The main area contains additional directories which holds the disk images and some essential pieces of documentation required for installing the Debian distribution on a specific architecture (disks-i386, disks-m68k, etc.).

-The binary and source directories are divided +The binary-* and source directories are divided further into subsections. Sections

-The main section is what makes up the official Debian -GNU/Linux distribution. The main section is official -because it fully complies with all our guidelines. The other two -sections do not, to different degrees; as such, they are not -officially part of Debian. +The main section of the Debian archive is what makes up the +official Debian GNU/Linux distribution. +The main section is official because it fully complies with +all our guidelines. The other two sections do not, to different degrees; +as such, they are not officially part of Debian GNU/Linux.

Every package in the main section must fully comply with the (DFSG) and @@ -606,16 +612,16 @@ id="&url-debian-policy;" name="Debian Policy Manual">. The DFSG is our definition of ``free software.'' Check out the Debian Policy Manual for details.

+Packages in the contrib section have to comply with the DFSG, +but may fail other requirements. For instance, they may depend on +non-free packages. +

Packages which do not apply to the DFSG are placed in the non-free section. These packages are not considered as part of the Debian distribution, though we support their use, and we provide infrastructure (such as our bug-tracking system and mailing lists) for non-free software packages.

-Packages in the contrib section have to comply with the DFSG, -but may fail other requirements. For instance, they may depend on -non-free packages. -

The contains a more exact definition of the three sections. The above discussion is just an introduction. @@ -654,7 +660,7 @@ Debian GNU/Linux 1.3 is only available as i386. Debian 2.0 shipped for i386 and m68k architectures. Debian 2.1 ships for the i386, m68k, alpha, and sparc architectures. Debian 2.2 adds support for the -powerpc architecture. +powerpc and arm architectures.

Information for developers or uses about the specific ports are available at the Package uploads @@ -920,16 +942,17 @@ Notably, the Distribution field, which originates from the debian/changelog file, indicates which distribution the package is intended for. There are four possible values for this field: `stable', `unstable', `frozen', or `experimental'; these values -can also be combined. For instance, if you have a crucial security -fix release of a package, and the package has not diverged between the -stable and unstable distributions, then you might -put `stable unstable' in the changelog's -Distribution field. Or, if Debian has been frozen, and you +can also be combined. Or, if Debian has been frozen, and you want to get a bug-fix release into frozen, you would set the distribution to `frozen unstable'. (See for more information on when to upload to frozen.) Note that it never makes sense to combine the experimental distribution with -anything else. Also note that setting the distribution to `stable' means +anything else. +

+You should avoid combining `stable' with others because of potential +problems with library dependencies (for your package and for the package +built by the build daemons for other architecture). +Also note that setting the distribution to `stable' means that the package will be placed into the proposed-updates directory of the Debian archive for further testing before it is actually included in stable. The Release Team (which can be reached at @@ -976,15 +999,15 @@ some guidelines: Fixes for bugs of severity critical, grave, or -important severity are always allowed for those packages that +serious severity are always allowed for those packages that must exist in the final release -critical, grave, and important bug fixes -are only allowed for non-necessary packages if they don't add any new +critical, grave, and serious bug fixes are +allowed for non-necessary packages but only if they don't add any new features -normal bug fixes are allowed (though discouraged) on all packages if -and only if there are no new features +important, normal and minor bug fixes are allowed (though discouraged) +on all packages if and only if there are no new features wishlist fixes are not allowed (they are, after all, not really bugs) @@ -1287,7 +1310,7 @@ cannot be reached in time, the Security Manager may upload a fixed package (i.e., do a source NMU).

During the release freeze (see ), NMUs which -fix important or higher severity bugs are encouraged and accepted. +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 @@ -1545,7 +1568,7 @@ In a binary NMU, no real changes are being made to the source. You do not need to touch any of the files in the source package. This includes debian/changelog.

-Sometimes you need to recompile a packages against other packages +Sometimes you need to recompile a package against other packages which have been updated, such as libraries. You do have to bump the version number in this case, so that the upgrade system can function properly. Even so, these are considered binary-only NMUs -- there is @@ -1586,7 +1609,7 @@ the porting effort, at the discretion of the porter group. (Remember, none of this is Policy, just mutually agreed upon guidelines.)

Secondly, porters doing source NMUs should make sure that the bug they -submit to the BTS should be of severity `important' or greater. This +submit to the BTS should be of severity `serious' or greater. This ensures that a single source package can be used to compile every supported Debian architecture by release time. It is very important that we have one version of the binary and source package for all