X-Git-Url: http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/ucgi/~ianmdlvl/git?p=developers-reference.git;a=blobdiff_plain;f=developers-reference.sgml;h=dea325efb3d5bce8ef4e4639b8066c435aa5b040;hp=7bc7c88245ff24f30457cc2628df6bf658d4c899;hb=e22ed8f4833f5a95c8b09504c2b19e93709c1120;hpb=00a11ce4441243d9e587e42123f49af55867b740 diff --git a/developers-reference.sgml b/developers-reference.sgml index 7bc7c88..dea325e 100644 --- a/developers-reference.sgml +++ b/developers-reference.sgml @@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ %commondata; - + - Packages using autoconf/automake + + Packages using + autoconf/automake

-Some very good packaging practices for packages using autoconf and/or -automake have been synthetized in &file-bpp-autotools;. You're strongly -encouraged to read this file and to follow the given recommandations. +Some very good packaging practices for packages using +autoconf and/or automake have been +synthesized in &file-bpp-autotools;. You're strongly encouraged to +read this file and to follow the given recommendations. Libraries @@ -2992,8 +3005,8 @@ encouraged to read this file and to follow the given recommandations. 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 to -break... +A breakage in a library can result in dozens of dependent packages +breaking.

Good practices for library packaging have been grouped in . @@ -3004,7 +3017,7 @@ Several subsets of packages have special sub-policies and corresponding packaging rules and practices: -Perl related packages have a , +Perl related packages have a , some examples of packages following that policy are libdbd-pg-perl (binary perl module) or libmldbm-perl (arch independent perl module). @@ -3018,7 +3031,7 @@ name="emacs policy">. Java related packages have their . -Ocaml related packages have their ocaml policy: &file-ocaml-policy; (in +Ocaml related packages have their Ocaml policy: &file-ocaml-policy; (in the ocaml package). A good example is the camlzip source package. @@ -3026,15 +3039,18 @@ source package. Configuration management - The wise use of debconf -

-Debconf is a configuration management system, it is used by all the -various packaging scripts (postinst mainly) to request feedback from the -user concerning how to configure the package. Direct user interactions -must now be avoided in favor of debconf interaction. This will enable -non-interactive installations in the future. + + Proper use of debconf +

+Debconf is a configuration management system which +can be used by all the various packaging scripts +(postinst mainly) to request feedback from the user +concerning how to configure the package. Direct user interactions must +now be avoided in favor of debconf +interaction. This will enable non-interactive installations in the +future.

-Debconf is a great tool but it is often badly used ... many common mistakes +Debconf is a great tool but it is often poorly used. Many common mistakes are listed in the man page. It is something that you must read if you decide to use debconf. @@ -3093,7 +3109,7 @@ ways, often really critical ways, to contribute to Debian beyond simply creating and maintaining packages.

As a volunteer organization, Debian relies on the discretion of its -members in choosing what they want to work on, and choosing what is +members in choosing what they want to work on and in choosing the most critical thing to spend their time on. @@ -3178,11 +3194,14 @@ patch, or if you will deal yourself with the bug, please explain that in the BTS.

People participating in the party have special rules for NMU, they can -NMU withour prior notice if they upload their NMU to +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. +also respect the maintainer's wishes if he expressed some. +

+If someone doesn't feel confident with an NMU, he should just send a patch +to the BTS. It's far better than a broken NMU. Dealing with unreachable maintainers

@@ -3263,7 +3282,7 @@ the package meets minimum Debian standards. That implies that you must build and test the package on your own system before uploading.

You can not simply upload a binary .deb from the sponsoree. In -theory, you should only ask only for the diff file, and the location of the +theory, you should only ask only 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 built by your sponsoree. In that case, you have to check that they haven't @@ -3434,7 +3453,7 @@ changes into the repository.

These utilities provide an infrastructure to facilitate the use of CVS by Debian maintainers. This allows one to keep separate CVS branches -of a package for stable, unstable, and possibly +of a package for stable, unstable and possibly experimental distributions, along with the other benefits of a version control system.