Re: [RFC] Proposal for new source format
Russ Allbery writes ("Re: [RFC] Proposal for new source format"):
> Ian Jackson <ijackson@chiark.greenend.org.uk> writes:
> > Of course this means that the resulting source packages are not the "3.0
> > (quilt)" patch queue source packages that many people (even some people
> > who like git) say is important to them.
>
> > A key design goal for dgit and my tag2upload proposal, is that (when
> > used in the most usual way) it produces nice source packages like
> > everyone is used to.
>
> My recollection is that you found 3.0 (quilt) packages had a lot of edge
> cases and strange interactions with Git that you've had to work around.
Oh certainly. I don't like them very much. However, lots of people
have, over a long period, told me that they like them and that their
features are valuable to them. This comes up over and over again in
threads like this one.
> I think there may be some deep conflicts here between a source package
> that is inherently a useful basis for work and modification (one of the
> design goals of 3.0 (quilt), and also one of the things those of us who
> like Git source packages have always wanted) and a source package that is
> easy to reproducibly generate and contains as little complexity as
> possible so that the archive software doesn't need to use any complex
> tools.
My response to this situation has been to solve it with superior
technology. dgit is a reliable bidirectional (mostly [1]) converter
between .dscs including `3.0 (quilt)' and useful[1] git branches.
That is its core purpose.
I have certainly encountered a large number of anomalies and
difficulties but I have overcome them and the result is a system where
everyone gets to keep what they value.
I took this approach because I wanted to make new stuff that people
would *enjoy more than the old stuff* and *want to use*. Software
whose output everyone would like.
[1] If to you `useful' means patches-unapplied or bare Debian, then
the dgit ecosystem does not yet have a converter from dsc to your git
branch.
Ian.
--
Ian Jackson <ijackson@chiark.greenend.org.uk> These opinions are my own.
If I emailed you from an address @fyvzl.net or @evade.org.uk, that is
a private address which bypasses my fierce spamfilter.
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