Mailing Lists, Servers, and Other Machines
+
+In this chapter you will find a very brief road map of the Debian
+mailing lists, the main Debian servers, and other Debian machines
+which may be available to you as a developer.
Mailing lists
@@ -331,8 +335,22 @@ posting messages.
Online archives of mailing lists are available at .
+ Debian servers
+
+Debian servers are well known servers which serve critical functions
+in the Debian project. Every developer should know what these servers
+are and what they do.
+
+If you have a problem with the operation of Debian server, and you
+think that the system operators need to be notified of this problem,
+please find the contact address for the particular role at . If you have a
+non-operating problems (such as packages to be remove, suggestions for
+the web site, etc.), generally you'll report a bug against a
+``pseudo-package''. See [ for information on how
+to submit bugs.
- The master server
+ The master server
]
The master server,
If you find a problem with debian-admin@debian.org.
-
- The FTP servers
-
+debian-admin@debian.org. Problems with the Debian FTP
+archive generally need to be reported as bugs against the
+ftp.debian.org pseudo-package or an email to
+ftpmaster@debian.org, but also see the procedures in
+[.
- The WWW servers
+ The WWW servers
]
The main web server, .
- The CVS server
+
+ The CVS server
ssh.
+developers, you can request a CVS area on the server.
+
+Generally, ssh. Also, the CVS area can
+be accessed read-only via the Web at .
To request a CVS area, send a request via email to
-debian-admin@debian.org.
+debian-admin@debian.org. Include the name of the
+requested CVS area, what va.debian.org user account should
+own the CVSROOT, and why you need it.
- Mirrors of Debian servers
+ Mirrors of Debian servers
The web and FTP servers have several mirrors available. Please do not
put heavy load on the canonical FTP or web servers. Ideally, the
@@ -423,6 +448,70 @@ Please do not mirror off of Other Debian Machines
+
+There are other Debian machines which may be made available to you.
+You can use these for Debian-related purposes as you see fit. Please
+be kind to system administrators, and do not use up tons and tons of
+disk space, network bandwidth, or CPU without first getting the
+approval of the local maintainers. Usually these machines are run by
+volunteers. Generally, these machines are for porting activities.
+
+Aside from the servers mentioned in [, the
+following machines are, or may be made, available to you. If an email
+address is listed, generally that person is the party to contact about
+issues on the machine. Otherwise, the machine is probably managed by
+debian-admin@debian.org.
+
+
+ faure.debian.org
+ ]-
+An Alpha; if you have an account on master, you probably
+already have an account here.
+
+ kubrick.debian.org
+
-
+A SPARC; if you have an account on master, you probably
+already have an account here.
+
+ pandora.debian.org
+
-
+An i386; if you have an account on master, you probably
+already have an account here.
+
+ albert.debian.org
+
-
+An Alpha; you probably want to use faure instead, but you may
+request an account from debian-admin@debian.org.
+
+ powerpc.debian.org
+
-
+A PowerPC; also known as tervola.infodrom.north.de. You may
+request an account from joey@debian.org or
+koptein@debian.org.
+
+ m68k.debian.org
+
-
+A Motorola 6800x0 machine; you may request an account from
+joey@debian.org or james@nocrew.org.
+Runs an autobuilder.
+
+ alpha.debian.nl
+
-
+An Alpha; you may request an account from
+debian@cistron.nl.
+
+ xia0[123].kachinatech.com
+
-
+SPARC and UltraSPARC machines. xia0[12] are used for
+automatic compilation; you can request an account on xia03 (an
+UltraSPARC) from wdeng@kachinatech.com.
+
+
+
+
+
The Debian Archive
Overview
@@ -543,14 +632,14 @@ more and more popular, the kernel was ported to other architectures,
too.
The Linux 2.0 kernel supports Intel x86, DEC Alpha, SPARC, Motorola
-680x0 machines (like Atari, Amiga and Macintoshes), MIPS, and PowerPC.
-Newer kernels support more architectures, including ARM, UltraSPARC,
-and MIPS. Since Linux supports these platforms, Debian decided that
-it should, too. Therefore, Debian has ports underway. In fact, we
-also have ports underway to non-Linux kernel. Aside from
+680x0 (like Atari, Amiga and Macintoshes), MIPS, and PowerPC.
+The Linux 2.2 kernel supports even more architectures, including ARM
+and UltraSPARC. Since Linux supports these platforms, Debian decided
+that it should, too. Therefore, Debian has ports underway. In fact,
+we also have ports underway to non-Linux kernel. Aside from
i386 (our name for Intel x86), there is m68k,
alpha, powerpc, sparc, hurd-i386,
-and arm as of this writing.
+and arm, as of this writing.
Debian GNU/Linux 1.3 is only available as i386. Debian 2.0
@@ -568,7 +657,6 @@ excepting perhaps the `base' subsection. Subsections exist simply
to simplify the organization and browsing of available packages.
Please check the current Debian distribution to see which sections are
available.
-
Packages
@@ -686,10 +774,22 @@ could do grave damage to a system, it might be better to put it into
For instance, an experimental encrypted file system should probably go
-into experimental. A new, beta, version of some software which uses
-completely different configuration might go into experimental at the
-maintainer's discretion. New software which isn't likely to damage
-your system can go into experimental. A new, beta, version of some software
+which uses completely different configuration might go into
+experimental at the maintainer's discretion. New software
+which isn't likely to damage your system can go into
+unstable. If you are working on an incompatible or complex
+upgrade situation, you can also use experimental as a staging
+area, so that testers can get early access.
+
+However, using experimental as a personal staging area is not
+always the best idea. You can't replace or upgrade the files in there
+on your own (dinstall and the Debian archive maintainers
+do that). Additionally, you'll have to remember to ask the archive
+maintainers to delete the package one you have uploaded it to
+unstable. Using your personal web space on
+va.debian.org is generally a better idea, so that you put
+less strain on the Debian archive maintainers.
Release code names
@@ -946,7 +1046,7 @@ section="5"> for more information.
If you have a slow network connection to ftp.chiark.greenend.org.uk using anonymous FTP
and read
/pub/debian/private/project/README.how-to-upload.
@@ -962,7 +1062,7 @@ to the documentation that comes with the program for details.
Uploads via
-Another cron-driven upload queue is available in Germany: just upload
+Another upload queue is available in Germany: just upload
the files via anonymous FTP to .
@@ -1324,7 +1424,7 @@ Porting is the act of building Debian packages for architectures which
is different from the original architecture of the package
maintainer's binary package. It is a unique and essential activity.
In fact, porters do most of the actual compiling of Debian packages.
-For instance, for one x86 binary package, there has to be a
+For instance, for one i386 binary package, there has to be a
recompile for each architecture, which is around five more builds.
@@ -1352,7 +1452,7 @@ Don't set architecture to a value other than ``all'' or ``any'' unless
you really mean it. In too many cases, maintainers don't follow the
instructions in the . Setting your architecture to ``x86''
+name="Debian Packaging Manual">. Setting your architecture to ``i386''
is usually incorrect.
-
Make sure your source package is correct. Do dpkg-source -x
@@ -1360,7 +1460,7 @@ Make sure your source package is correct. Do dpkg-source -x
properly. Then, in there, try building your package from scratch with
dpkg-buildpackage.
-
-Make sure you don't ship your binary package with the
+Make sure you don't ship your source package with the
debian/files or debian/substvars files.
They should be removed by the `clean' target of
debian/rules.
@@ -1376,6 +1476,12 @@ sub-case of the above issue).
-
Don't rely on egcc being available; don't rely on
gcc being a certain version.
+
-
+Make sure your debian/rules contains separate ``binary-arch'' and
+``binary-indep'' targets, as the Debian Packaging Manual requires.
+Make sure that both targets work independently, that is, that you can
+call the target without having called the other before. To test this,
+try to run dpkg-buildpackage -b.
@@ -1463,10 +1569,6 @@ architecture
buildd
-
The
+
We are very excited about this system, since it potentially has so
many uses. Independent development groups can use the system for
different sub-flavors of Debian, which may or may not really be of
@@ -1628,7 +1736,7 @@ outlining all the open bugs against your packages:
Replace maintainer-address with you official Debian
maintainer address.
- Submitting Bugs
+ Submitting Bugs
Often as a package maintainer, you find bugs in other packages or else
have bugs reported to your packages which need to be reassigned. The