Format: field in .dsc files
Hi, there are a few .dsc files that dont have a Format: field, the few
that i found all had a Standards-Version: 3.0.1, but some packages of that
same Standards-Version do have a Format: field in the .dsc file, i tried
to find more details of theis field.
man dpkg-source refers to it being described in the packaging manual which
is obsolete, parts of the packaging manual have been moved to policy.
>From the policy manual,
C.3 Source packages as archives
Debian source control file - .dsc
This file contains a series of fields, identified and separated just like
the fields in the control file of a binary package. The fields are listed
below; their syntax is described above, in Control files and their fields
(from old Packaging Manual), Appendix D.
Source
Version
Maintainer
Binary
Architecture
Build-Depends et al. (source package interrelationships)
Standards-Version
Files
There is a link to appendix D, where i find mention of _a_ Format: field
D.2.17 Format
This field occurs in .changes files, and specifies a format revision for
the file. The format described here is version 1.5. The syntax of the
format value is the same as that of a package version number except that
no epoch or Debian revision is allowed - see Version numbering, Chapter 4.
But the Format: field of the .changes file mustnt caryover to the .dsc
file becasue my last upload had .changes;Format: 1.7 and .dsc;Format:1.0
So was the Format field in the .dsc option at one stage, is it still
optional, is it documented ?
This also makes me wonder, when a new release is made do we specify that
all packages must be newer than a specific standards version, or do we let
all the cruft in ?
Confused
Glenn
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