--- Begin Message ---
- To: Debian Bug Tracking System <submit@bugs.debian.org>
- Subject: debian-policy: Clarifications about the syntax of Debian control files.
- From: Charles Plessy <plessy@debian.org>
- Date: Sun, 22 Aug 2010 15:23:26 +0900
- Message-id: <20100822062326.31963.25892.reportbug@aqwa.igloo>
Package: debian-policy
Version: 3.9.1.0
Severity: wishlist
Dear all,
I have been reading §5.1 (Syntax of control files) many times recently, and
would like propose clarifications about a couple of points. If consensus emerges,
I will write a patch.
Non-wrappable field values
--------------------------
§5.1 contains the following paragraph:
In fields where it is specified that lines may not wrap, only a single line of
data is allowed and whitespace is not significant in a field body. Whitespace
must not appear inside names (of packages, architectures, files or anything
else) or version numbers, or between the characters of multi-character version
relationships.
The Architecture and Closes fields seem to follow this convention, without
referring to it (they do not specify that ‘lines may not wrap’). The
Distribution also allows a list of values, but not for the Debian archive.
The Binary field also contains a space-separated list of items, but is
wrappable.
Many other fields are single line, but they do not contain a list of
space-separated items. For instance, the Maintainer and Urgencey fields.
Policy chapter 5 contains only two times the word “wrap”, one in the above
quotation and one in the context of the Description field (§5.6.13), in the
part that explain how to specify verbatim parts in extened descriptions.
There are other possible interpretations of the paragraph I cited above, but I
could not find a field that would fit with them.
I am working on DEP-5, which aims at using the Debian control file format, I
have the feeling that the paragraph that I quoted above makes it more difficult
to describe how text can be wrapped or not on multi-line fields. Unless it has
a crucial role that I have overlooked, I propose its supppression.
Ordering of the paragraphs
--------------------------
I always had the impression that the Debian control files had one header
paragraph, followed by other paragraphs that were not ordered. If it is not the
case, that is: if parsers are required to remember the order of the paragraphs.
I think that it would be useful to write it in §5.1.
Line escape and paragraph separators
------------------------------------
“Blank lines, or lines consisting only of spaces and tabs, are not allowed
within field values or between fields”. The Description and Changes fields
introduce a convention to escape blank lines, representing them by a space
followed by a dot. How describing this convention directly in §5.1?
Also, while submitting this bug, I found #501930 about paragraph separation.
If the outcome of this discussion is a patch, I propose to let it addres
#501930 as well, by adding “lines consisting only of spaces and tabs” to the
second sentence of §5.1.
Have a nice day,
--
Charles Plessy
Tsurumi, Kanagawa, Japan
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
Source: debian-policy
Source-Version: 3.9.2.0
We believe that the bug you reported is fixed in the latest version of
debian-policy, which is due to be installed in the Debian FTP archive:
debian-policy_3.9.2.0.dsc
to main/d/debian-policy/debian-policy_3.9.2.0.dsc
debian-policy_3.9.2.0.tar.gz
to main/d/debian-policy/debian-policy_3.9.2.0.tar.gz
debian-policy_3.9.2.0_all.deb
to main/d/debian-policy/debian-policy_3.9.2.0_all.deb
A summary of the changes between this version and the previous one is
attached.
Thank you for reporting the bug, which will now be closed. If you
have further comments please address them to 593909@bugs.debian.org,
and the maintainer will reopen the bug report if appropriate.
Debian distribution maintenance software
pp.
Russ Allbery <rra@debian.org> (supplier of updated debian-policy package)
(This message was generated automatically at their request; if you
believe that there is a problem with it please contact the archive
administrators by mailing ftpmaster@debian.org)
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA256
Format: 1.8
Date: Wed, 06 Apr 2011 22:48:55 -0700
Source: debian-policy
Binary: debian-policy
Architecture: source all
Version: 3.9.2.0
Distribution: unstable
Urgency: low
Maintainer: Debian Policy List <debian-policy@lists.debian.org>
Changed-By: Russ Allbery <rra@debian.org>
Description:
debian-policy - Debian Policy Manual and related documents
Closes: 459868 488214 501930 504880 536790 581011 588014 590696 591857 593909 594274 594542 594656 594658 597074 599944 606869 609160 619186
Changes:
debian-policy (3.9.2.0) unstable; urgency=low
.
* Policy: Require human Maintainer or Uploader, clarify Maintainer
Wording: Russ Allbery <rra@debian.org>
Seconded: Charles Plessy <plessy@debian.org>
Seconded: Raphaël Hertzog <hertzog@debian.org>
Closes: #459868, #581011
* Policy: Add an FHS exception on GNU/Hurd for /hurd and /servers
Wording: Russ Allbery <rra@debian.org>
Seconded: Andrew McMillan <andrew@morphoss.com>
Seconded: Guillem Jover <guillem@debian.org>
Closes: #594658
* Policy: Document DM-Upload-Allowed
Wording: Charles Plessy <plessy@debian.org>
Seconded: Andrew McMillan <andrew@morphoss.com>
Seconded: Russ Allbery <rra@debian.org>
Closes: #588014
* Policy: Update multiarch FHS exception for i386 naming
Wording: Steve Langasek <vorlon@debian.org>
Seconded: Aurelien Jarno <aurelien@aurel32.net>
Seconded: Raphael Hertzog <hertzog@debian.org>
Closes: #619186
* Policy: Significant additions to maintainer script documentation
Wording: Russ Allbery <rra@debian.org>
Seconded: Steve Langasek <vorlon@debian.org>
Seconded: Raphaël Hertzog <hertzog@debian.org>
Closes: #504880
* Policy: Clarify format of Debian control fields
Wording: Charles Plessy <plessy@debian.org>
Seconded: Russ Allbery <rra@debian.org>
Seconded: Julien Cristau <jcristau@debian.org>
Closes: #501930, #593909
* Virtual: Added mailx as a new virtual package
Wording: Russ Allbery <rra@debian.org>
Seconded: Raphaël Hertzog <hertzog@debian.org>
Seconded: Giacomo A. Catenazzi <cate@debian.org>
Closes: #488214
* Be more verbose in defining the build architecture and the host
architecture and consistently refer to architecture rather than
machine. (Closes: #591857)
* Correct the name of the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard in the package
description. Patch from Christoph Anton Mitterer. (Closes: #590696)
* Use the word "implemented" to describe required targets in
debian/rules, which is clearer about allowing wildcard rules. List
the required rules in their own paragraph rather than with the
paragraph discussing non-interactivity, and explicitly mark all rules
as either required or optional. (Closes: #536790)
* Update the ldconfig footnote listing the /etc/ld.so.conf directories
to remove the libc5 compatibility directories and mention the
multiarch triplet directories. Based on a patch by Charles Plessy.
(Closes: #597074)
* Add introductory paragraphs for each archive area explaining briefly
the purpose of that archive area. Based on a proposal by CJ
Fearnley. (Closes: #594542)
* Change all non-historical references to Debian GNU/Linux to simply
Debian since Debian now includes FreeBSD-based architectures. Patch
from Guillem Jover. (Closes: #594656)
* Remove references to the obsolete debmake package.
* Update the list of Policy maintainers.
* Wrap Uploaders in debian/control.
* Move Build-Depends-Indep to Build-Depends (there's no reason to use
-Indep in a package that builds only architecture-independent binary
packages), wrap it, and remove version restrictions that are older
than the version in oldstable.
* Add emacs23 to the build dependencies and remove the files generated
from org source from the revision control repository. Build and clean
files from org source unconditionally. Add Process.{txt,html} to the
list of files generated from org source. (Closes: #594274)
* Fix URLs under www.freedesktop.org to avoid permanent redirects.
Thanks, David Prévot. (Closes: #606869)
* Add a cross-reference to the Pre-Depends requirement in 3.5 to section
7.2 where Pre-Depends is defined. Thanks, Mattias Ellert and Jonathan
Nieder. (Closes: #599944)
* Include the new (optional) copyright format that was drafted as DEP-5.
This is not yet a final version; that's expected to come in the
3.9.3.0 release. Thanks to all the DEP-5 contributors and to Lars
Wirzenius and Charles Plessy for the integration into the Policy
package. (Closes: #609160)
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f8b59ed7adcaec2dd78b77010eba9f9934e13012 693834 debian-policy_3.9.2.0.tar.gz
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Checksums-Sha256:
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Files:
cad30289440ae005513484e7af83039f 1471 doc optional debian-policy_3.9.2.0.dsc
b90105f64bcaedd3b1c182689ac9c6c8 693834 doc optional debian-policy_3.9.2.0.tar.gz
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