Use of Debian revision in an upstream-maintained Debian package
On Sat, Nov 07, 1998 at 09:49:07AM +0100, Roland Rosenfeld wrote:
> Maybe you miss understood the definition of the Debian version
> numbering scheme?
Probably not.
> The packaging manual tells us the following:
> <debian-revision>
...
> It is optional; if it isn't present then the <upstream-version>
> may not contain a hyphen. This format represents the case where a
> piece of software was written specifically to be turned into a
> Debian binary package, and so there is only one `debianization'
> of it and therefore no revision indication is required.
>
> So "-1" isn't the "build number" like you called it, but the
> "debian-revision".
What one calls it is not relevant.
> And this Debian revision is optional and it is only used to show the
> modifications between the upstream version and the debian
> version. If upstream author and Debian maintainer are the same
> person, the debian-revision isn't needed.
Why you say that a Debian revision is not needed when he Debian
maintainer and the upstream maintainer are the same person?
There's a real use for a Debian revision even when there is no
separate Debian packager for the piece of software. Since people do
make mistakes, a given Debian packaging may have mistakes. When they
are corrected, and this is the only change to the piece of software,
there's no need to advance the upstream version: if fact doing that
will make non-Debian people falsely believe there's been some changes
that are relevant to them, too. The Debian revision is ideal for
this: if one makes changes to the Debian packaging only, one can
change the Debian revision and Debian users know to upgrade while
non-Debian users know not to bother. Likewise, correcting a RedHat
packaging mistake should not show in the master release number, only
in RedHat's internal packaging number.
> And if the upstream author adds a debian-revision there is no chance
> for a Debian maintainer (who may have to fix some bugs to become
> policy conformant), because this Debian maintainer isn't able to add
> another debian-revision, but only a non-maintainer debian revision -1.1
Of course the Debian revision must be added by the Debian packager!
If the upstream maintainer is not the Debian packager, she should not
use Debian revisions.
Antti-Juhani
--
Antti-Juhani Kaijanaho A7 <gaia@iki.fi> ** <URL:http://www.iki.fi/gaia/> **
The FAQ is your friend.
Trust the FAQ.
Reply to: