[DebianGIS] TileCache 2.0 debian packaging
Approximately 8 months ago, Paul Wise offered a great review of the
TileCache Debian packaging materials with an eye towards inclusion in
Debian.
http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/pkg-grass-general/2007-April/002565.html
Since then, TileCache has been released another 6 times, but no serious
effort had been made on improving packaging until today.
http://svn.tilecache.org/trunk/tilecache/ has the updated code with the
changes I mention below implemented.
Here is a point by point response to the points made then:
> * README.Debian: I'd strongly suggest that those changes be moved into
> setup.py. although I don't understand the move to /usr/sbin, is it not
> possible
I'm not sure if this was cut off or not. Python's setuptools does not
have an idea of installing to /usr/sbin -- Python 'scripts' are
installed into /usr/bin on Linux, but other paths on Mac, for example,
and I don't think there's any way to change this behavior.
> * changelog: wrong version number??
Fixed.
> * compat: best use 5 these days
Done.
> * control: Standards-Version needs updating (and read the
> debian-policy upgrading-checklist.txt document)
Looks from the changelog like 3.7.1 required things which we are
currently installing in /usr/lib/cgi-bin to be in /usr/lib/cgi-lib
instead, but that was changed back in 3.7.2, so I think we're okay here.
>* control: Add real humans to the Uploaders field so we know who is
>actually maintaining it
Done.
> * copyright: move "Copyright (c) 2006-2007 MetaCarta, Inc." into the
> copyright holder section
Done, I think?
> * copyright: "all rights reserved" doesn't really make sense to me if
> it is BSD licenced
This is part of the standard BSD License Template:
http://opensource.org/licenses/bsd-license.php
See "Here is the License Template".
> * cron.d.ex: rename to cron.d - .ex is dh_make for example. Same for
> the other .ex files.
No cron scripts -- leftovers from debhelpers.
> * dirs: doesn't setup.py create these itself, if not it prob should?
No: these are the locations which are *not* created by setup.py because
setup.py doesn't install to these locations.
> * docs: EXAMPLES/Example.py should probably get installed by
> dh_installexamples instead
Done.
> * docs: HACKING maybe is only relevant for people who get the source
> package? Actually, it looks useful, perhaps HACKING.swarm is useful
> too?
This information is no longer as appropriate, and has been moved into
the doctests (which hold the developer docs) -- so I think this one is
fixed.
> * docs: MANIFEST isn't needed
No longer in source.
> * docs: The README file needs adapting to the lack of .py extensions
> and a few path changes /usr/local -> /usr. I'd suggest doing this in
> debian/rules with a call to either python or sed
The README was just a copy of what was in the man page. Over time, the
README has become about 50% plus irrelevant to debian, so I've instead
recreated the manpage content keeping it specific to debian in a lot of
ways, so I think this is fixed.
> * init.d.ex: rename, add lsb information, remove reload bit, commented
> * bits?
Leftovers from debhelpers. Gone.
> * manpages: perhaps installing these should be moved to setup.py?
> non-Debian users might appreciate them too :)
The relevant info is all in the README, which is installed with the
setup.py stuff now.
> * postinst.ex, postrm.ex, preinst.ex, prerm.ex: delete, doen't seem to
> be needed or do anything
Leftovers from debhelpers. Gone.
> * tilecache.8: does that have the same information as the upstream
> README file?
It did. It doesn't naymore.
> * rules: remove unneeded makefile targets and comments
Done.
> * rules: why is dh_installcron commented out if you have a default cron?
Done.
> * maybe move the debian dir to debian-gis svn: you don't want to be
> releasing new upstreams for every change to the debian packages.
Right now, TileCache is supporting a number of users under debian etch
via manually installed debs. I expect that these users will continue to
want to use TileCache from debs. In my experience, debian-gis keeps up
with leading edge Debian development at the cost of the packages no
longer installing on non-sid dists.
This could be incorrect, but I'd like to continue to provide up to date
etch packages. I'll take any advice on how to do this -- if debian GIS
can provide this, it's fine with me to maintain the debian stuff there.
> Ok, some stuff in the upstream bits I thought was strange:
> * CHANGELOG: seems like the kinda thing that should be called NEWS
> instead, may want to generate a ChangeLog with svn2cl
A commit by commit changelog seems unneccesary to me. "CHANGELOG" seems
to be what Debian calls its 'overall list of things changed between
releases' file -- why is this different?
> * mkdist.sh: I thought python's setuputils stuff could do the
> equivalent of make dist from automake?
Sure, but only if you drink the Python koolaid. I like shell scripting
;) That said, I've gone ahead and abandoned this now, so it's no longer
relevant.
Any further comments? What's the next step, if not?
Regards,
--
Christopher Schmidt
MetaCarta
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