Changes to source guidelines
Here are a few changes that have been made to the source guidelines
posted last Friday. I just post the changes; if you want the new
document, then please ftp to tempest.ecn.purdue.edu to get it. I
would highly recommend doing that.
BTW, please feel free to start from the original source package
instead of using the ones available in the `working' directory. Some
of those packages have been resident on my machine for quite a long
time (i.e., long before the source guidelines were created), and it
may be easier to ``start from scratch'' rather than trying to figure
out exactly what I did to it.
Ian Murdock <imurdock@gnu.ai.mit.edu>
Changes in the source guidelines posted last Friday:
====================================================
* Library files should generally be installed as mode 644 and owner
root.root; however, if the package requires different permissions or
ownerships to function correctly, then they should obviously be used
instead.
[ A little more specific in this area. ]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Manual pages should be mode 644 and owned by root.root. The nroff
^^^ ^^^^^^^^^
source must be installed. There is no need to install a pre-formatted
cat page.
[ This should make it easier to create the proper install targets.
The old requirements weren't really necessary. ]
* Info documents should be mode 644 and `gzipped' when installed.
^^^
* Any other documentation that comes with the package should be
installed at the discretion of the package maintainer. Text
documentation should be mode 644, `gzipped' and installed to /usr/doc.
^^^
If a subdirectory of /usr/doc is warranted, then please feel free to
create one. Please do not install large text or PostScript
documentation to /usr/doc; however, please do upload such
documentation _separately_ so that it can be made available via FTP
with the distribution in a `doc' directory. If a user has the need
for the documentation they can easily get it from there.
[ Ditto. ]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* [Hard vs. symbolic links in the manual page directories...]
Please do not create hard links in the manual page directories; use
symbolic links instead.
[ I had this completely backwards; I meant the other way around.
Sorry. :) ]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* [Makefile variables...]
It is up to the package maintainer to decide what compilation options
are best for the package. Certain binaries (such as computational-
intensive programs) may function better with certain flags; feel free
to use them. Please use good judgment here. Don't add flags for the
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
sake of adding flags; only add flags if there is good reason to do so.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* [Making an archive of the source package...]
NOTE: Do not use the `z' option to `tar'! This will not result in
optimal compression! Instead, do this:
# tar cvf foo-1.2.3.tar foo-1.2.3
# gzip -9 foo-1.2.3.tar
* Make a context diff against the original package:
# diff --context --recursive -P foo-1.0.orig/ foo-1.0/
^^
[ This is to ensure that new files, such as `README.debian', will be
included in the context diff. ]
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