Re: RFS: libgpiv

[Christoph Haas <haas@debian.org>]

Hi, Gerber...

On Monday 13 March 2006 21:10, Gerber van der Graaf wrote:
> I just uploaded a repaired package to the debian-mentors repository
> after I got some comments from the previous one. The packages are linda
> and lintian error free. Lintian issued two warning messages:
> "source: package-uses-deprecated-debhelper-compat-version 3"
> "package-name-doesnt-match-sonames libgpiv2". I don't know what these
> warnings mean and if they're important.

Kind of. "debhelper" delivers dh_install and other dh_* tools that you use 
in your debian/rules file. Most packages still depend on version 4 of 
debhelper. A while ago debhelper 5 has been released. You are using the 
version 3 which is deprecated. Bump up the version to 5 and test if your 
build still works. Hint: DH_COMPAT in debian/rules.

"zless /usr/share/doc/debhelper/changelog.gz" gives you detailed 
information on the changes to "debhelper". Or "man 7 debhelper".

> As the previous package was not uploaded to the formal Debian repository
> by a DD, I did not increase the package number. So, its still an initial
> release which also closes the ITP BUG I reported against this package.
> Is this correct behaviour?

It's okay. But your debian/changelog file appears to have a superfluous 
linebreak and a missing blank line. Try "cat" on it to see what I mean.

> I perfectly understand that there is very little chance that there is a
> DD who might be interested in this software.

Not necessarily. I sometimes sponsor software that I don't use myself. For 
me it's more important that I can verify that your package works (e.g. I'm 
not a "cdbs" guru and prefer "debhelper"-based packages like yours). 
Libraries are a bit more complicated unless I have an application that 
uses it which I can click and torture and test.

> Even though, I kindly ask whether a DD will sponsor the package.

Sure. But please tell us more about the package. See other RFS reports as a 
template. I didn't notice your previous posts here about libgpiv so at 
least I have missed it.

> Though I am the developer of the software as well,
> the packaging has been kept separated from the upstream source packages
> available at http://gpiv.sourceforge.net

Very good. Shipping a debian/ directory with your distribution leads to 
more problems most of the time. The only location where you need it is for 
the debian package. And users can get that from the Debian repositories. 
So no need to include it.

> Description: Library for Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV)
>  This library contains functions for evaluating images from a fluid
>  flow by means of Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV), resulting into a
>  velocity field on a rectangular grid. It includes the core functions
>  for image acquiring, processing, interrogation, PIV data validation,
>  post-processing, input/output and memory allocation.
>
> Thanks a lot in forward,

Further notes:
- Why debian/Makefile? Where do you use it?
- Since you are the upstream author: why is gpiv.1 in debian and not
  generally installed by your software? It's probably not Debian-specific.
- Your debian/watch seems to be b0rked. Running "uscan" I get warnings
  and errors.
- My "pbuilder" fails to build the package:

checking for GPIV_UI_LIBS...
configure: error: The pkg-config script could not be found or is too old.  
Make sure it
is in your PATH or set the PKG_CONFIG environment variable to the full
path to pkg-config.

Anyway, thanks for your contribution.

Kindly
 Christoph
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