Re: [transcript] source package formats

[Brian May <bam@debian.org>]

>>>>> "Adam" == Adam Heath <adam@doogie.org> writes:

    Adam> The script looks for all files matching the pattern
    Adam> *.diffs.tar.gz(yes, it allows multiple patch archives.  This
    Adam> could be used to share between sources), then everything
    Adam> else that matches *.tar.gz is placed into a tarballs
    Adam> variable.  The first listed tarball is assumed to be
    Adam> orig.tar.gz, and special care is taken to ensure that it
    Adam> unpacks into a properly named directory.

    Adam> All other tarballs and patches are extracted/applied by
    Adam> cd'ing into the target directory first.

    Adam> Each .diffs.tar.gz contains a file named 'dsc' which holds
    Adam> the Patches field from the first version.

    Adam> Comments?  Suggestions?


I am not sure I like (or understand for that matter) the input tar.gz
files:

 93c152103ca081bd993bb216952a61be 293809 xawtv_3.07.orig.tar.gz
 49d09b3edefb8279dc0ae1df3a42d15b 15908 xawtv_3.07-2.debian.tar.gz
 fbb0a2fdc26934037ad11553f8f19814 2624 xawtv_3.07-2.diffs.tar.gz

The first one is obvious, it contains the original source code, same
with the last, it contains the diffs. I will assume that
xawtv_3.07-2.debian.tar.gz can contain binary files, that can't be
patched (true/false?).

I wonder, if, rather then treating files ending in *.diffs.tar.gz as a
special case, perhaps it might be better for these files to untar in a
special location, eg xawtv-3.07/debian/diffs.  That way, all Debian
specific stuff could all go into xawtv_3.07-2.debian.tar.gz, too.

I think this approach would allow greatest flexibility, should we ever
decide we need to change in the future. Also, I suspect it might make
maintaining these packages easier, if diff files can live in a
standard spot within the source structure.

However, I may have lost the plot somewhere here ;-)
-- 
Brian May <bam@debian.org>