Re: Meaning of the different “format” fields and files.
Le Fri, May 28, 2010 at 08:25:25AM +0200, Raphael Hertzog a écrit :
> On Thu, 27 May 2010, Charles Plessy wrote:
> > * In Debian changes files, Format is currently 1.8; I suppose that it
> > defines the meaning and syntax of the other fields. Is there a place were the
> > history of this file format is defined? Is it a general format number for what
> > we call the “pseudo RFC-822”, “paragraph”, or “stanza” format?
> >
> > * In the Debian source control files, Format is 1.0 or 3.0 (variant). This
> > defines the format of the source package. Is the format of the Debian source control
> > file itself tied to the format of the source package, or is it independant as for
> > the changes files?
> >
> > * §5.6.16 specifies a value of 1.5 for all Format fields. Is it a source package format
> > version or a “pseudo RFC-822” format version. If yes should this number be updated to 1.8,
> > or even to 1.9 to reflect that the Format field is deprecated in source package
> > control files?
> >
>
> Answer to those questions in
> http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=547272
Thanks for the pointer. I sent a patch for the Policy to this bug report. I
agree with the comment of Manoj in message #15 that the Format field of the
Debian source control files would have better been called Src-Format or
something similar. Do you think that there is a chance to correct this in the
future?
The patch I sent indicates the meaning of the Format field for the Debian
change files and source control files, and brings the Policy up to date with
the format 1.8 for Debian changes files. I did not address the meaning of the
Format field in source package control files, because I do not understand why
the debian/source/format file was introduced to replace the use of that field.
Have a nice week-end,
--
Charles Plessy
Tsurumi, Kanagawa, Japan
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