Re: finding upstream
On Wednesday 06 August 2003 00:40, Colin Watson wrote:
> On Tue, Aug 05, 2003 at 02:50:43PM -0500, Bob McElrath wrote:
> > It is, in general, difficult to find the upstream developers of a
> > given debian package. The package page does not include any
> > mention of a web site or mailing list where actual development
> > occurs. The .dsc files also do not generally list how to find
> > upstream.
>
> This is normally the purpose of /usr/share/doc/*/copyright, and by
> and large it fulfils that purpose well.
Yes, and no. If you want more information about the program you will
first have to download it and then read /usr/share/doc/package/*.
Such a link on the package page would at least prevent the user from
using google...
> > I suggest that when there is an upstream, debian should include a
> > link to it on the package page (for instance, a link to the
> > sourceforge project page or the project's home page), and/or a
> > development mailing list if one exists.
>
> I don't think there's any disagreement that this would be useful, but
> it's up to individual package maintainers to do this. The
> packages.debian.org pages are generated from package descriptions and
> dependencies.
Is there a possibility to suggest it for further versions of the package
maintaining policy. Something such as "The description should include a
reference to the upstream source" ?
> > The same information should be in the .dsc file for the package
> > somehow.
>
> I disagree; it should be in the package description, i.e. the .deb.
> That's where we put descriptive metadata.
Me too. The .dsc file is nothing a user should have to read. The package
description is the right place for an upstream link.
joerg
--
Gib GATES keine Chance!
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