Hello, during the upcoming week-end (Aug 30 - Sep 2), we'll have our first bug squashing party for sarge. Why now ? Because we aim to a short release cycle for sarge and because release critical bugs are already too numerous. If you were unhappy with the long time woody took to came out, it's a good idea to help out this week-end (if you can't, then you should hack on debian-installer some weeks and you'll be forgiven). WHAT ? A bug squashing party is an occasion to correct as many release critical bugs as possible in all the packages of Debian. Correcting usually means: - writing patchs - making NMU HOW ? We usually meet on #debian-bugs on Openprojects (irc.debian.org), that's the place where you can ask any question about the bug squashing party during the week-end. The list of critical bugs is available at : http://bugs.debian.net/index.pmz?name=ALL If you decide to work an particular bug/package, then you should add a comment to it (using the "Add new comment" link and selecting the "BSP-2002-08" keyword) : some examples are "Preparing an NMU", "Creating a patch". This will let other people know that someone is taking care of it. When you have finished, you should update your comment (click on "Change comment") and give the status (usually either "Patch sent" or "NMU x.y-z.w uploaded to DELAYED/4-day"). Make sure to mark the comment as "done". You can change the keyword if you find one more appropriate. If you have assigned a bug or a package to you, but you finally can't fix it, just remove the comment (using the "Remove comment" link). If you have a fix but you're unable to upload the package because you're not a Debian maintainer, you can ask someone on #debian-bugs to do it for you. Before that make sure to send the patch to the BTS and to tag the bug with the "patch" keyword. Sometimes, release critical bugs do not deserve their release critical status. The severity may need to be lowered. You can do that if you have a consensus about it on #debian-bugs. ABOUT NMU During a BSP, Non Maintainer Upload rules are simplified. You can NMU any package without previous notice to the maintainer. Instead of uploading the package to incoming directly, you should however upload it to the DELAYED directory (read developers-reference[1] for more info about how to do that). Full patch of the NMU must still be sent to the BTS for the maintainer. At the same time, you should inform him of the time he has before your upload to the DELAYED directory will make its way into incoming itself. The loosened rules don't mean that you should forget common sense. Don't NMU a package without a bit of testing. Don't NMU if you know that the maintainer is active and will happily include the patch that you will send. OTHER NOTES This BSP can also be used to complete the transition to perl 5.8 by NMUing all binary perl modules that have not yet been updated by the end of the week. CONTACT If you want more information about this BSP, feel free to ask on debian-qa@lists.debian.org or on #debian-bugs. PS: The usual release critical bug list maintained by Wichert Akkerman is currently not working. It doesn't matter much, bugs.debian.net is enough. [1] http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/developers-reference/ch-resources.en.html#s-delayed-incoming -- Raphaël Hertzog -+- http://strasbourg.linuxfr.org/~raphael/ Formation Linux et logiciel libre : http://www.logidee.com
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