1 Building topgit for Debian
2 --------------------------
4 The topgit source package uses quilt to apply and remove its patches. Please
5 refer to /usr/share/doc/quilt/README.source for information about how to use
6 quilt for source packages.
8 The quilt series is, however, generated from the Git repository, using TopGit
9 itself. While subject to change, this currently happens as follows. Please
10 make sure to have the latest version of TopGit (>= 0.3) installed before
13 1. Cloning the repository
14 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
15 Cloning a TopGit repository requires an additional step to normal Git cloning:
17 1. git clone ssh://git.debian.org/git/collab-maint/topgit.git
19 3. tg remote --populate origin
23 The following branches are in use in the package:
25 - upstream: tracks the upstream Git repository
26 - fixes/*: patches fixing problems with upstream
27 - features/*: patches providing new features, targetted upstream
28 - master: the main Debianisation branch
29 - debian/*: Debian-specific patches
31 upstream and master are regular Git branches, while the others are TopGit
32 branches. The reason why master is not a TopGit branch itself is so that it's
33 possible to export all TopGit-managed branches into the quilt series, without
34 having to make an exception for master.
36 2. Developing a new feature
37 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
38 If you want to develop a new feature (or bug fix), first consider whether the
39 patch is intended to go upstream or is a Debian-specific change. Choose the
40 namespace accordingly and base it off upstream or master respectively. If the
41 patch depends on another patch, obviously base it off the respective TopGit
44 The following are the steps required to add a feature branch/patch:
46 1. tg create features/new-feature upstream
48 tg create debian/new-debian-stuff master
50 2. edit .topmsg and make the subject line be a short description, optionally
51 add a longer description to the body
53 3. git add .topmsg && git commit -m'create branch features/new-feature'
55 3. Obtaining the upstream tarball
56 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
57 The upstream tarball for $VERSION can be obtained using pristine-tar:
59 pristine-tar checkout ../topgit_$VERSION.orig.tar.gz
61 4. Building the package
62 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
63 To build the package, you check out the build branch, recreate debian/patches,
64 commit, build, test, upload, tag:
66 1. tg create stage-0.4-1 debian/locations
67 2. git commit -m'staging 0.4-1'
68 3. tg export --quilt debian/patches.new
69 4. rm debian/patches.new/stage-*
70 5. sed -i '/^stage-/d' debian/patches.new/series
71 6. git checkout build && git rm -r debian/patches
72 7. mv debian/patches.new debian/patches && git add debian/patches
73 8. git commit -m'preparing 0.4-1'
74 9. build, test, upload, tag ('debian/topgit-0.4-1')
75 10. tg delete stage-0.4-1
77 This process is still very cumbersome and needs to be improved, ideally within
80 5. Importing a new upstream version
81 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
82 To import a new upstream, update the remote, merge the tag you want to merge
83 into the master branch, ideally together with an update to debian/changelog,
84 then update all TopGit branches:
87 2. git checkout master
88 3. git merge topgit-0.4
90 Now proceed as in the next step.
92 6. Making changes to the master branch
93 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
94 If you make changes to the master branch (the "debianisation" branch), follow
98 2. for every branch that is prefixed with 'D' in the output:
99 git checkout $BRANCH && tg update
100 3. git checkout build && git merge master
102 7. Building an upstream tarball
103 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
104 Until upstream provides official tarballs, the following can be used to create
107 1. git checkout topgit-0.4
108 2. git archive --prefix=$(git describe HEAD)/ --verbose HEAD \
109 | gzip -9 > ../$(git describe HEAD | sed s,-,_,).orig.tar.gz
110 3. pristine-tar commit ../$(git describe HEAD | sed s,-,_,).orig.tar.gz \
112 4. git checkout master
114 All comments and suggestions are welcome, especially those pertaining to
115 auto-generating debian/changelog from commit logs.
117 -- martin f. krafft <madduck@debian.org> Mon, 11 Aug 2008 17:32:48 -0300