X-Git-Url: http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/ucgi/~ianmdlvl/git?p=developers-reference.git;a=blobdiff_plain;f=developers-reference.sgml;h=72e4c3a1aa8083097e3289d4569e275ffcb79563;hp=2d7a1d5cab2d3c8a379516efe6791f0241d7cea6;hb=25d4d612ad700f4daa88037123e2a783d5913c3f;hpb=52081326aaaedf0d806fbca36791498e6b56f5b0 diff --git a/developers-reference.sgml b/developers-reference.sgml index 2d7a1d5..72e4c3a 100644 --- a/developers-reference.sgml +++ b/developers-reference.sgml @@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ %commondata; - + @@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

A copy of the GNU General Public License is available as &file-GPL; in -the Debian GNU/Linux distribution or on the World Wide Web at . You can also obtain it by writing to the &fsf-addr;. @@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ Linux People IRC network (e.g., irc.debian.org) can also be helpful.

-When you know how you want to contribute to the Debian Project, you +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 @@ -132,22 +132,23 @@ these tasks and submit patches and improvements. Registering as a Debian developer

-Before you decide to register with the Debian Project, you will need -to read all the information available at the . It describes exactly the preparations -you have to do before you can register to become a Debian developer. - -For example, before you apply, you have to to read the -. -Registering as a developer means that you agree with and -pledge to uphold the Debian Social Contract; it is very important that -maintainers are in accord with the essential ideas behind Debian -GNU/Linux. Reading the . It describes exactly the +preparations you have to do before you can register to become a Debian +developer. + +For example, before you apply, you have to to read the . +Registering as a developer means that you agree with and pledge to +uphold the Debian Social Contract; it is very important that +maintainers are in accord with the essential ideas behind +&debian-formal;. Reading the would also be a good idea.

The process of registering as a developer is a process of verifying -your identity and intentions, and checking your technical skills. -As the number of people working on Debian has grown to over +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. Therefore, we need to verify new maintainers before we can give them @@ -212,17 +213,17 @@ Some countries restrict the use of cryptographic software by their citizens. This need not impede one's activities as a Debian package maintainer however, as it may be perfectly legal to use cryptographic products for authentication, rather than encryption purposes (as is -the case in France). The Debian Project does not require the use of +the case in France). &debian-formal; does not require the use of cryptography qua cryptography in any manner. If you live in a country where use of cryptography even for authentication is forbidden then please contact us so we can make special arrangements.

When you are ready to apply, you need an existing Debian maintainer to verify your application (an advocate). After you have -contributed to the Project and when you want to apply to become a +contributed to Debian for a while, and you want to apply to become a registered developer, an existing developer with whom you have worked over the past months has to express his belief that you -can contribute to the Project successfully. +can contribute to Debian successfully.

When you have found an advocate, have your GPG key signed and have already contributed to Debian for a while, you're ready to apply. @@ -417,8 +418,8 @@ The following are the core Debian mailing lists: &email-debian-devel;, &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 -other mailing lists are available for a variety of special topics; see +&email-debian-devel-announce;. There are +other mailing lists available for a variety of special topics; see for a list. Cross-posting (sending the same message to multiple lists) is discouraged.

@@ -568,7 +569,7 @@ id="&url-devel-machines;">. Overview

-The Debian GNU/Linux distribution consists of a lot of Debian packages +The &debian-formal; 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.).

@@ -607,10 +608,11 @@ further into subsections. Sections

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. +official &debian-formal; 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-formal;.

Every package in the main section must fully comply with the (DFSG) and @@ -663,7 +665,7 @@ also have ports underway to non-Linux kernel. Aside from alpha, powerpc, sparc, hurd-i386, and arm, as of this writing.

-Debian GNU/Linux 1.3 is only available as i386. Debian 2.0 +&debian-formal; 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 @@ -732,9 +734,9 @@ the header information from all those packages. The former are kept in the directory of the archive (because of backwards compatibility). - Stable, testing, unstable, and sometimes frozen + Stable, testing, and unstable

-There is always a distribution called stable (residing in +There are always distributions called stable (residing in dists/stable), one called testing (residing in dists/testing), and one called unstable (residing in dists/unstable). This reflects the development process of the @@ -750,48 +752,46 @@ sometimes ``unstable.''

Packages get copied from unstable to testing if they satisfy certain criteria. To get into testing distribution, a -package needs to be in the archive for two weeks and not have any release -critical bugs. After that period, it will propagate into testing -as soon as anything it depends on is also added. This process is automatic. +package needs to be in the archive for two weeks and not have any +release critical bugs. After that period, it will propagate into +testing as soon as anything it depends on is also added. This +process is automatic. You can see some notes on this system as well +as update_excuses (describing which packages are valid +candidates, which are not, and why not) at .

After a period of development, once the release manager deems fit, the -testing distribution is renamed to frozen. Once -that has been done, no changes are allowed to that distribution except -bug fixes; that's why it's called ``frozen.'' After another month or -a little longer, depending on the progress, the frozen distribution +testing distribution is frozen, meaning that the policies +which control how packages move from unstable to testing are +tightened. Packages which are too buggy are removed. No changes are +allowed into testing except for bug fixes. After some time +has elapsed, depending on progress, the testing distribution goes into a `deep freeze', when no changes are made to it except those -needed for the installation system. This is called a ``test cycle'', and it -can last up to two weeks. There can be several test cycles, until the -distribution is prepared for release, as decided by the release manager. -At the end of the last test cycle, the frozen distribution is -renamed to stable, overriding the old stable distribution, -which is removed at that time. +needed for the installation system. This is called a ``test cycle'', +and it can last up to two weeks. There can be several test cycles, +until the distribution is prepared for release, as decided by the +release manager. At the end of the last test cycle, the +testing distribution is renamed to stable, +overriding the old stable distribution, which is removed at +that time (although they can be found at archive-host;).

This development cycle is based on the assumption that the unstable distribution becomes stable after passing a -period of testing as frozen. Even once a distribution is -considered stable, a few bugs inevitably remain &mdash that's why the stable -distribution is updated every now and then. However, these updates are -tested very carefully and have to be introduced into the archive -individually to reduce the risk of introducing new bugs. You can find -proposed additions to stable in the proposed-updates -directory. Those packages in proposed-updates that pass -muster are periodically moved as a batch into the stable distribution -and the revision level of the stable distribution is incremented -(e.g., `1.3' becomes `1.3r1', `2.0r2' becomes `2.0r3', and so forth). +period of being in testing. Even once a distribution is +considered stable, a few bugs inevitably remain &mdash that's why the +stable distribution is updated every now and then. However, these +updates are tested very carefully and have to be introduced into the +archive individually to reduce the risk of introducing new bugs. You +can find proposed additions to stable in the +proposed-updates directory. Those packages in +proposed-updates that pass muster are periodically moved as a +batch into the stable distribution and the revision level of the +stable distribution is incremented (e.g., `1.3' becomes `1.3r1', +`2.0r2' becomes `2.0r3', and so forth).

Note that development under unstable continues during the ``freeze'' period, since the unstable distribution remains in -place when the testing is moved to frozen. -Another wrinkle is that when the frozen distribution is -offically released, the old stable distribution is completely removed -from the Debian archives (although they do live on at -archive-host;). -

-In summary, there is always a stable, a testing and an -unstable distribution available, and a frozen distribution -shows up for a couple of months from time to time. - +place in parallel with testing. Experimental

@@ -865,9 +865,9 @@ determined by their code names and not their release status (e.g., `slink'). These names stay the same during the development period and after the release; symbolic links, which can be changed easily, indicate the currently released stable distribution. That's why the -real distribution directories use the code names, while symbolic -links for stable, testing, unstable, and -frozen point to the appropriate release directories. +real distribution directories use the code names, while +symbolic links for stable, testing, and +unstable point to the appropriate release directories. Package uploads @@ -1004,16 +1004,10 @@ The Distribution field, which originates from the first line of the debian/changelog file, indicates which distribution the package is intended for.

-There are four possible values for this field: `stable', `unstable', -`frozen', and `experimental'. Normally, packages are uploaded into +There are three possible values for this field: `stable', `unstable', +and `experimental'. Normally, packages are uploaded into unstable.

-These values can be combined, but only a few combinations make sense. -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 uploading to -frozen. -

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). @@ -1023,6 +1017,7 @@ upload to stable. It never makes sense to combine the experimental distribution with anything else. + + Uploading to stable

@@ -1251,7 +1248,7 @@ send those announcements (check its documentation and look for If a package is released with the Distribution: set to `stable', the announcement is sent to &email-debian-changes;. If a package is released with Distribution: set to `unstable', -`experimental', or `frozen' (when present), the announcement will be +or `experimental', the announcement will be posted to &email-debian-devel-changes; instead.

The dupload program is clever enough to determine @@ -1378,7 +1375,7 @@ quality patches and bug reports. When to do a source NMU

Guidelines for when to do a source NMU depend on the target -distribution, i.e., stable, unstable, or frozen. Porters have +distribution, i.e., stable, unstable, or experimental. Porters have slightly different rules than non-porters, due to their unique circumstances (see ).

@@ -1390,12 +1387,12 @@ maintainer cannot provide a fixed package fast enough or if he/she cannot be reached in time, a security officer may upload a fixed package (i.e., do a source NMU).

-During the release freeze (see ), 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 need to be followed. +During the release cycle (see ), 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 need to be followed.

Bug fixes to unstable by non-maintainers are also acceptable, but only as a last resort or with permission. Try the following steps first, @@ -1704,11 +1701,16 @@ Porters doing a source NMU generally follow the guidelines found in the wait cycle for a porter's source NMU is smaller than for a 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. Crucial fixes (i.e., changes need to get a source +uploading to. + +

However, if you are a porter doing an NMU for `unstable', the above guidelines for porting should be followed, with two variations.