debian_noob@web.de wrote: > > 1) What kind of developing does a Debian developer? Are you developing the > packages (*.deb files)? Yes. But that is only part of the entire task. > I ask because I want to understand why this is so complicated. There are > "apt"-scripts to create *.deb-files from source-packages (I mean *.tar or > *tar.gz files). Complicated is in the eye of the beholder. The .deb packages themselves are just archives of gzip'd tar files. Which seem very simple. It is true that there are several different scripts used in the process of building a .deb package. But they don't seem very complicated once you try them. The entire process is documented quite well in the developer manual. However as is true of many projects the documentation can almost always stand improvement. Suggestions for documentation improvement are always welcome. > What are the hard parts of creating the deb-packages of new > source-files why the Debian developers are working so long for a new > version of the Debian stable release (3.1 or 4.0)? You misunderstand. It is not difficult at all to make a package for a new piece of software. That is the very easy part. The hard part is making that new piece of software play well with other software. Frequently there are bad interactions. Here is an example. The option of one program changes. Another program uses the first program and so it needs to change too. An interaction while in isolation each package stands fine on its own. With ten thousand packages in the Debian archive keeping the bad interactions minimized is a difficult task. > 2) Are you developing some fixes on the source files of the > upstream-developers? Many times yes. But there is a strong pressure by policy to push those fixes back into the upstream version. Debian tries hard not to keep those fixes closed but instead pushes those back upstream so that all users of the software benefit, even those not using Debian. > I ask because I want to understand what kind of fixes and > customizations a developer have to write to make his applications > Debian-compliant. If your software package is well behaved then I would not expect any customizations would be needed to make it Debian compliant. "Well behaved" has some room for debate. But basically a good upstream package works well in Debian, and probably other distributions too, with no changes. > I plan some development for scientific-calculations and this > information would help me to write Debian-compliant software(I want > to create Debain-packages so others can install my software without > much difficulties). Excellent! A good source of discussion for people starting out is on the debian-mentors mailing list. Try to follow the documentation for packaging your software. If you run into trouble, ask questions on the debian-mentors list. > 3) What are the quality "specs" that define which package can get from > testing to unstable to stable? http://www.debian.org/devel/testing You can find that link by going to the main Debian site and seeing "Developers's Corner" and following that to work in progress section where you find "The testing distribution". Good luck with your project! Bob
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