RE: Bug#128077: Please mention native source packages in maint-guide
On Sun, 6 Jan 2002, Yves Arrouye wrote:
> Thanks for the explanation. Well, ICU is definitely not developed
> specifically for Debian, but since I am one of the upstream developers, I
> found it convenient to have the debian/ directory in it, not just for me but
> for anybody who would want to grab ICU from the CVS and build a .deb for it.
This doesn't mean that you can't include the debian/ subdirectory in the
upstream sources - if the debian/ subdirectory is complete and the package
is non-native the diff.gz is perhaps simply empty.
> So I guess that as long as the explanation in maint-guide says that a native
> Debian package is a package that builds with no modifications, not just a
> package developed specifically for Debian, it will be clear for everybody.
I've already discussed several times why this it is bad to package
programs as native packages although they aren't written specifically for
Debian. Consider e.g. the following examples:
- To fix a missing build dependency you have to release a new upstream
version of your program.
- If your package is in stable and there's already a newer version of it
in unstable you have to create a seperate branch of upstream development
when you backport a fix to the package in stable (this is perhaps a bit
hairsplitting...).
Compare these oddities with the fact that there are _no_ problems for you
to package your program non-native while including a complete debian/
subdir in the upstream version and I hope you understand why it's better
to package your program non-native.
> YA
cu
Adrian
Reply to: