Hi! This is the second part of my proposed changes to debian-faq. Aside minor changes in the English language (which probably need a review from a native speaker) I changed some contents, specifically: - mention amd64 (and not i386) as the common architecture - I updated the example control file from the hello package (took it from stable) - In the discussion about package priorities, I took out some reference to packages like w3m, mutt or exim4 which as far as I can tell no longer have "Standard" priority but they are now with priority "Optional". - I changed the reference to Custom Debian Distributions and Skolelinux to Debian Pure Blends and DebianEdu/Skolelinux, respectively; the new links are those the old links redirect to, anyway. - I added a reference to the "Guide for Debian Maintainers" which is more up to that than the New Maintainers' Guide. Thanks, beatrice
Index: pkg_basics.sgml
===================================================================
--- pkg_basics.sgml (revisione 11198)
+++ pkg_basics.sgml (copia locale)
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
<item><em>Binary packages</em>, which contain executables, configuration
files, man/info pages, copyright information, and other documentation.
These packages are distributed in a Debian-specific archive format
- (see <ref id="deb-format">); they are usually distinguished by having
+ (see <ref id="deb-format">); they are usually characterized by having
a '.deb' file extension. Binary packages can be unpacked using the Debian
utility <tt>dpkg</tt> (possibly via a frontend like <prgn/aptitude/);
details are given in its manual page.
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
<tt>.diff.gz</tt> file that contains the Debian-specific changes to the
original source. The utility <tt>dpkg-source</tt> packs and unpacks
Debian source archives; details are provided in its manual page. (The
- program <prgn/apt-get/ can get used as a frontend for <tt>dpkg-source</tt>.)
+ program <prgn/apt-get/ can be used as a frontend for <tt>dpkg-source</tt>.)
</list>
<p>Installation of software by the package system uses "dependencies" which
@@ -69,9 +69,9 @@
<p>The Debian binary package file names conform to the following convention:
<foo>_<VersionNumber>-<DebianRevisionNumber>_<DebianArchitecture>.deb
-<p>Note that <tt>foo</tt> is supposed to be the package name. As a check,
-one can learn the package name associated with a particular Debian archive
-file (.deb file) in one of these ways:
+<p>Note that <tt>foo</tt> is supposed to be the package name. Checking
+the package name associated with a particular Debian archive file
+(.deb file) can be done in one of these ways:
<list>
<item>inspect the "Packages" file in the directory where it was stored
at a Debian FTP archive site. This file contains a stanza describing
@@ -94,9 +94,10 @@
file (<tt>debian/control</tt>), the installation or removal scripts
(<tt>debian/p*</tt>), or in the configuration files used with the package.
+<
<p>The <tt>AAA</tt> component identifies the processor for which
-the package was built. This is commonly <tt>i386</tt>, which refers to
-chips compatible to Intel's 386 or later versions. For other
+the package was built. This is commonly <tt>amd64</tt>, which refers to
+AMD64, Intel 64 or VIA Nano chips. For other
possibilities review Debian's FTP directory structure at <ref id="dirtree">.
For details, see the description of "Debian architecture" in the manual page
<manref name="dpkg-architecture" section="1">.
@@ -109,17 +110,20 @@
<p>Briefly, a sample control file is shown below for the Debian package hello:
<example>
Package: hello
+Version: 2.9-2+deb8u1
+Architecture: amd64
+Maintainer: Santiago Vila <sanvila@debian.org>
+Installed-Size: 145
+Depends: libc6 (>= 2.14)
+Conflicts: hello-traditional
+Breaks: hello-debhelper (<< 2.9)
+Replaces: hello-debhelper (<< 2.9), hello-traditional
+Section: devel
Priority: optional
-Section: devel
-Installed-Size: 45
-Maintainer: Adam Heath <doogie@debian.org>
-Architecture: i386
-Version: 1.3-16
-Depends: libc6 (>= 2.1)
-Description: The classic greeting, and a good example
+Homepage: http://www.gnu.org/software/hello/
+Description: example package based on GNU hello
The GNU hello program produces a familiar, friendly greeting. It
-<!-- XXX below 'non-programmers' were better, but this is a verbatim copy -->
- allows nonprogrammers to use a classic computer science tool which
+ allows non-programmers to use a classic computer science tool which
would otherwise be unavailable to them.
.
Seriously, though: this is an example of how to do a Debian package.
@@ -186,7 +190,7 @@
<p>The individual files are:
<taglist>
<tag/preinst/
- <item>This script executes before that package will be unpacked from its
+ <item>This script is executed before the package it belongs to is unpacked from its
Debian archive (".deb") file. Many 'preinst' scripts stop services for
packages which are being upgraded until their installation or upgrade is
completed (following the successful execution of the 'postinst' script).
@@ -196,7 +200,7 @@
package <tt>foo</tt> once <tt>foo</tt> has been unpacked from its Debian
archive (".deb") file. Often, 'postinst' scripts ask the user for input,
and/or warn the user that if he accepts default values, he should remember
- to go back and re-configure that package as the situation warrants.
+ to go back and re-configure that package as needed.
Many 'postinst' scripts then execute any commands necessary to start or
restart a service once a new package has been installed or upgraded.
@@ -211,7 +215,7 @@
<ref id="virtual">.)
</taglist>
-<p>Currently all of the control files can be found in directory
+<p>Currently all of the control files can be found in the directory
<tt>/var/lib/dpkg/info</tt>. The files relevant to package <tt>foo</tt>
begin with the name "foo" and have file extensions of "preinst", "postinst",
etc., as appropriate. The file <tt>foo.list</tt> in that directory
@@ -238,22 +242,26 @@
system.
<p>Other packages which the system will not run well or be usable without
will be here. This does <em>NOT</em> include Emacs or X or TeX or any
- other large applications. These packages only constitute the bare
+ other large application. These packages only constitute the bare
infrastructure.
<item><strong>Standard</strong> packages are standard on any Linux system,
including a reasonably small but not too limited character-mode system.
- Tools are included to be able to browse the web (using w3m), send e-mail
- (with mutt) and download files from FTP servers.
- <p>This is what will install by default if users do not select anything
+<!-- Tools are included to be able to browse the web (using w3m), send e-mail
+(with mutt) and download files from FTP servers. -->
+<!-- Note: as far as I can tell mutt and w3m are priority Optional, not
+ Standard. The same goes for Exim, pidentd and portmap -->
+ <p>This is what will be installed by default if users do not select anything
else. It does not include many large applications, but it does include
the Python interpreter and some server software like OpenSSH (for
- remote administration), Exim (for mail delivery, although it can
+ remote administration).
+<!-- , Exim (for mail delivery, although it can
be configured for local delivery only), an identd server (pidentd) and the
- RPC portmapper (<tt>portmap</tt>). It also includes some common
+RPC portmapper (<tt>portmap</tt>).-->
+ It also includes some common
generic documentation that most users will find helpful.
<item><strong>Optional</strong> packages include all those that you might
- reasonably want to install if you did not know what it was, or do not
- have specialized requirements.
+ reasonably want to install if you do not know what they are, or that
+ do not have specialized requirements.
<p>This includes X, a full TeX distribution, and lots of applications.
<item><strong>Extra</strong>: packages that either conflict with others
with higher priorities, are only likely to be useful if you already know
@@ -275,7 +283,7 @@
<p>A virtual package is a generic name that applies to any one of a group
of packages, all of which provide similar basic functionality. For example,
both the <tt>tin</tt> and <tt>trn</tt> programs are news readers, and
-should therefore satisfy any dependency of a program that required a news
+should therefore satisfy any dependency of a program that requires a news
reader on a system, in order to work or to be useful.
They are therefore both said to provide the "virtual package" called
<tt>news-reader</tt>.
@@ -282,10 +290,10 @@
<p>Similarly, <tt>exim4</tt> and <tt>sendmail</tt> both provide the
functionality of a mail transport agent. They are therefore said to
-provide the virtual package, "mail transport agent".
+provide the virtual package, "mail-transport-agent".
If either one is installed, then any program depending on the
installation of a <tt>mail-transport-agent</tt> will be satisfied by
-the existence of this virtual package.
+the presence of this virtual package.
<p>Debian provides a mechanism so that, if more than one package which
provide the same virtual package is installed on a system, then system
@@ -328,7 +336,7 @@
package A which they really need.
</list>
-<p>More detailed information on the use of each these terms can be found
+<p>More detailed information on the use of each one of these terms can be found
in the Debian Policy manual, section 7.2, "Binary Dependencies", see
<ref id="debiandocs">.
@@ -335,7 +343,7 @@
<sect id="pre-depends">What is meant by Pre-Depends?
<p>"Pre-Depends" is a special dependency. In the case of most packages,
-<tt>dpkg</tt> will unpack its archive file (i.e., its <tt>.deb</tt> file)
+<tt>dpkg</tt> will unpack the archive file of a package (i.e., its <tt>.deb</tt> file)
independently of whether or not the files on which it depends exist on the
system. Simplistically, unpacking means that <tt>dpkg</tt> will extract
the files from the archive file that were meant to be installed on your
@@ -368,7 +376,7 @@
<item>unknown - the user has never indicated whether the package is wanted.
<item>install - the user wants the package installed or upgraded.
<item>remove - the user wants the package removed, but does not want to
- remove any existing configuration files.
+ remove any existing configuration file.
<item>purge - the user wants the package to be removed completely,
including its configuration files.
<item>hold - the user wants this package not to be processed, i.e.
@@ -408,13 +416,13 @@
<p>Source packages are distributed on most of the same mirrors where you can
obtain the binary packages. If you set up your APT's
<manref name="sources.list" section="5"> to include the appropriate
-"deb-src" lines, you'll be able to easily download any source packages
+"deb-src" lines, you'll be able to easily download any source package
by running
<example>apt-get source foo</example>
<p>To help you in actually building the source package, Debian source
-package provide the so-called build-dependencies mechanism. This means that
+packages provide the so-called build-dependencies mechanism. This means that
the source package maintainer keeps a list of other packages that are
required to build their package. To see how this is useful, run
@@ -467,7 +475,7 @@
<example>dpkg-source -x foo_version-revision.dsc</example>
will extract the package into a directory called <tt>foo-version</tt>.
-<p>If you want just to compile the package, you may cd into
+<p>If you just want to compile the package, you may cd into the
<tt>foo-version</tt> directory and issue the command
<example>dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot -b</example>
to build the package (note that this also requires the
@@ -478,5 +486,8 @@
<sect id="creatingdebs">How do I create Debian packages myself?
<p>For a more detailed description on this, read the New Maintainers' Guide,
-available in the <package/maint-guide/ package, or at
-<url id="http://www.debian.org/doc/devel-manuals#maint-guide";>.
+available in the <package/maint-guide/ package or at
+<url id="http://www.debian.org/doc/devel-manuals#maint-guide";>, or the
+Guide for Debian Maintainers, available in the
+<package>debmake-doc</package> package or at
+<url id="https://www.debian.org/doc/devel-manuals.en.html#debmake-doc";>.
Index: redist.sgml
===================================================================
--- redist.sgml (revisione 11198)
+++ redist.sgml (copia locale)
@@ -36,9 +36,9 @@
<p>Yes. Debian-derived distributions are being created both in close
cooperation with the Debian project itself and by external parties. One can
-use the <url id="http://cdd.alioth.debian.org/"; name="Custom Debian
-Distributions"> framework to work together with Debian; <url
-id="http://www.skolelinux.org/"; name="Skolelinux"> is one such project.
+use the <url id="https://www.debian.org/blends/"; name="Debian
+Pure Blends"> framework to work together with Debian; <url
+id="https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/"; name="DebianEdu/Skolelinux"> is one such project.
<p>There are several other Debian-derived distributions already on the market,
such as Progeny Debian, Linspire, Knoppix and Ubuntu, that are targeted at a
Index: support.sgml
===================================================================
--- support.sgml (revisione 11198)
+++ support.sgml (copia locale)
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@
particularly GNU tools, is available not in `man' pages, but in `info'
files which can be read by the GNU tool <tt>info</tt>, by running
<tt>M-x info</tt> within GNU Emacs, or with some other Info page viewer.
- <p>Its main advantage over the original `man' pages are that it is
+ <p>Its main advantage over the original `man' pages is that it is
a hypertext system. It does <em>not</em> require the WWW, however;
<tt>info</tt> can be run from a plain text console. It was designed
by Richard Stallman and preceded the WWW.
@@ -168,11 +168,11 @@
engine for newsgroups.
<p>For example, to find out what experiences people have had with
- finding drivers for Promise controllers under Debian, try searching on
+ finding drivers for Promise controllers under Debian, try searching
the phrase <tt>Promise Linux driver</tt>. This will show you all the
- postings that contain these strings, i.e. those where people discussed
+ posts that contain these strings, i.e. those where people discussed
these topics. If you add <tt>Debian</tt> to those search strings, you'll
- also get the postings specifically related to Debian.
+ also get the posts specifically related to Debian.
<item>Any of the common web spidering engines, such as
<url id="http://www.altavista.com/"; name="AltaVista"> or
@@ -179,7 +179,7 @@
<url id="http://www.google.com/"; name="Google">, as long as you use
the right search terms.
- <p>For example, searching on the string "cgi-perl" gives a more detailed
+ <p>For example, searching the string "cgi-perl" gives a more detailed
explanation of this package than the brief description field in its
control file.
</list>
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