Regarding the new "Debian User Repository"
Today I discovered a relatively new project called "Debian User Repository" [1].
It's similar to the AUR, and much more than just in principle. Packages are
defined as PKGBUILD files and built via makepkg [2], the tool used in the AUR.
The packages are then converted to binary debs using makedeb [3].
Overall, the build process is designed to avoid "standard" Debian packaging
as much as possible.
I was trying to find out who made it - and this project is not related to Debian
at all (the creator, Hunter Wittenborn, is not in Debian's contributor
database).
Also, it's goal is not creating an "AUR" for Debian, but a central replacement
PPAs for Ubuntu LTS [4, 5]. For those of you who want to see my conversation
with the creator, it's in a public (though encrypted) Matrix room [6].
Why do I think this is relevant for Debian?
This was not the first attempt of building a "DUR" [7], and at least I
personally
think the name has too much weight for a project that is not related to Debian.
Thus, I think we should discuss whether we should ask the creator to change
the name (he is open for that, I asked him).
The creator responded quite nicely and I think we shouldn't actively oppose
the project itself. I think the project *can* be beneficial to Debian (at least
until someone creates a DUR that actually uses the Debian build process).
- Stephan
[1] https://dur.hunterwittenborn.com/
[2] https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/makepkg
[3] https://github.com/hwittenborn/makedeb
[4] https://docs.hunterwittenborn.com/makedeb/debian-user-repository/intro
[5] https://docs.hunterwittenborn.com/makedeb/debian-user-repository/dur-user-guidelines/package-relationships
[6] https://matrix.to/#/!MlOxXUNnNLifAJrRHM:hunterwittenborn.com/$-0F8SG0pk8RH3cPkhifBCT3lnyYiZdEn1XC3sE6WxRg?via=hunterwittenborn.com&via=matrix.org&via=grin.hu
[7] https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2019/04/msg00064.html
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