Re: upstream changelog in XML format
On Mon, Jan 23, 2012 at 1:08 AM, Jerome BENOIT <g6299304p@rezozer.net> wrote:
> Hello List:
>
> I am working on the bibtool package.
> The changelog of the upstream package is in XML format and is named
> `Changes.xml'.
>
> Right now, I manage it by adding an override in the debian/rules file:
>
> override_dh_installchangelogs:
> dh_installchangelogs --keep Changes.xml
>
> Nevertheless, nothing is really done, in particular `Changes.xml' is not
> converted in text.
> I put the `--keep' option because I suspect that this kind of changelog file
> is a well know
> format in some `field' (even if I can not figure out which `field').
Hmm. According to policy (section 12.7 of version 3.9.2.0):
,----
| If an upstream changelog is available, it should be accessible as
| `/usr/share/doc/<package>/changelog.gz' in plain text. If the
| upstream changelog is distributed in HTML, it should be made available
| in that form as `/usr/share/doc/<package>/changelog.html.gz' and a
| plain text `changelog.gz' should be generated from it using, for
| example, `lynx -dump -nolist'. If the upstream changelog files do not
| already conform to this naming convention, then this may be achieved
| either by renaming the files, or by adding a symbolic link, at the
| maintainer's discretion.[1]
`----
This would seem to imply that you shouldn't be installing a file named
"changelog.gz" containing anything other than (gzipped) plain text. I
think that, if you install it, you should probably install it as
"Changes.xml.gz".
> Is there a better way to deal with this `Changes.xml' ?
> I guess that I can add some stuff in the makefile to convert it in text
> format:
> do specific tools exist to convert this kind of changelog in text format ?
If I were you, I'd ask upstream about that, or (since a quick google
shows that this is a TeX-related program) ask about it on
<http://tex.stackexchange.com> (a Q&A site about TeX with loads of
extremely helpful people on it).
Then, I'd pass the (html or plaintext) output of any such tool to
dh_installchangelogs, rather than passing Changes.xml.
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