Re: changes to Packages file
On Sat, 26 Jul 1997, Sue Campbell wrote:
> Since the Packages file contains all the information about who
> created the package and where it is going, it only makes sense that
> the information on where it came from would go in there too.
>
> With this in mind, I'd like to recommend the following additions to
> the Packages file:
>
> A new field 'Source:' be created telling where the source was retrieved
> from (yes I know this info is already in the copyright file).
>
> An optional field 'Homepage:' be created giving the location of the
> web page for the software.
I absolutely agree with Sue in these points. Note, that this has been
proposed several times now and has been included in the "Policy Status"
mails before.
The argument, that this info is already included in the copyright file is
not valid, since it's impossible to extract this information automatically
by a script.
Note, that the new fields have to go into the "package control record"
(DEBIAN/control file) so it gets included in the Packages files
automatically.
The following fields are suggested:
Author: name and email of main upstream author (copyright holder)
Original-Site: site/URL at which the package is originally stored
Homepage: URL of the "upstream homepage"
[quoted from the policy status mail:] The "Author" field I think is
important for giving due credit to whom rightfully deserves it. Some
novice Debian users might think that the maintainer mentioned in "dpkg -I"
is the author or the upstream maintainer. That is convenient for having
users contact the Debian maintainer instead of bypassing them for the
upstream author. However, I am convinced it is not fair for the "real
authors" to create this confusion. Once the package is installed, users
can check who the real author is, but they should be able to know it from
the beginning.
The "Original-Site" field contains the "primary URL" where you can get
the upstream sources. If there are more than one site, the others
should be listed in "Alternate-site-1", "Alternate-site-2", etc.
The "Homepage" field can be omitted if there is no upstream homepage.
Of course, this means new work for the maintainers, but we definitely have
to implement that now. To limit the work for the individual maintainer,
this will be done together with the new "Source-Depends" field. (I'll post
a policy draft soon.)
Any comments?
If there are no objections, this will become official policy soon.
Thanks,
Chris
-- Christian Schwarz
schwarz@monet.m.isar.de, schwarz@schwarz-online.com
schwarz@debian.org, schwarz@mathematik.tu-muenchen.de
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