Re: Bug#466550: Pristine source from upstream VCS repository
On Thu, Mar 12, 2009 at 08:49:19PM +0100, Bernd Zeimetz wrote:
> No, please don't just add another watch file just for the sake of it, using
> these files is more or less like living in the last century. People are able to
> get the current source from the Debian pool, if that is not enough for them,
> they should be old enough to be able to click on the upstream homepage link in
> the package's description and get the source.
> A lot of people, including myself, prefer to pull form the upstream vcs
> directly, and work on top of that, using git for example. Using uscan to
> retrieve the exact version is often impossible, as it's not trivial to get
> a tarball from a specific upstream branch, tag or ref.
I'm not sure if you're arguing against using get-orig-source this way or
just arguing against a watchfile-like approach, but I would say that's
precisely the case that the get-orig-source target is intended for. Cases
where generation of the tarballs used as .orig.tar.gz in Debian is
non-trivial are cases where the process of generating these tarballs should
be documented in a machine-automatable manner, whether they're generated by
downloading an existing upstream tarball and munging it, or by pulling from
a particular VCS tag.
In an ideal world, we would have a standard method for recreating a tarball
from upstream that doesn't assume familiarity with any particular VCS, or
familiarity with any particular upstream's tagging conventions.
> I think the way Debian should go is to tell people that they should clone
> the developer's git ([.. insert your favourite dvcs here ...]) repository
> and work with it, probably requiring to explain how working with the
> repository works, which branches are used for what, and so on. At least
> that would fit *todays* way of handling packages, at least for a lot of
> people.
Wrong for the various reasons Russ has already given - and also because
<insert your favorite dvcs here> gives us no common format that all Debian
developers agree to use. The value in having such targets in policy is so
that developers *other* than the maintainer can rely on them.
--
Steve Langasek Give me a lever long enough and a Free OS
Debian Developer to set it on, and I can move the world.
Ubuntu Developer http://www.debian.org/
slangasek@ubuntu.com vorlon@debian.org
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