Re: FASTX-Toolkit on GitHub.

[Charles Plessy <plessy@debian.org>]

Le Mon, Nov 11, 2013 at 08:21:28AM +0100, Andreas Tille a écrit :
> On Mon, Nov 11, 2013 at 08:45:09AM +0900, Charles Plessy wrote:
> > 
> > Indeed, one would need to download it using apt-get source, or from the
> > upstream system for browsing Git repositories (here, GitHub).  Pristine-tar
> > brought us as much pain as gain, so I am tempted to go without.  Nevertheless,
> > it is totally conceivable to maintain a pristine-tar branch (perhaps without
> > git-buildpackage).
> 
> I admit I have no problem with pristine-tar any more since I
> consequently use
> 
>     gbp-clone
>     gbp-pull
> 
> which updates all needed branches.  Probably this hint should make its
> way into policy as well.

Hi Andreas,

In the end I figured out that even if git-buildpackage is not strictly
necessary, it is sufficiently flexible so that the configuration file in
debian/gbp.conf will not only allow the use of the standard 'gbp' commands, but
will also be an efficient documentation of the repository structure.

Here is an example with the htslib package.  Its gbp.conf file is the following.

    # This package uses pristine-tar, and does not follow the canonical layout of git-buildpackage.
    
    [DEFAULT]
    # the default branch for upstream sources:
    upstream-branch = develop
    # the default branch for the debian patch:
    debian-branch = debian/unstable
    # the default tag formats used:
    upstream-tag = %(version)s
    # use pristine-tar:
    pristine-tar = True

Here, we are following the "develop" branch of the Upstream repository, because
Upstream recommended so.  In other cases, it would often be "master".

To keep the same name for the branches Upstream and in the Debian repository, the
packaging work is in the "debian/unstable" branch.

We use the upstream tags directly, since we do not use "git import-orig" and
there is no "upstream" branch

There is a pristine-tar branch, that "git buildpackage" will use to
reconstitute an upstream tarball if missing.

To populate the pristine-tar branch, I used pristine-tar directly, with the following
command.  The upstream tag 0.2.0-rc3 corresponds to the Debian version 0.2.0~rc3.

    pristine-tar commit ../htslib_0.2.0~rc3.orig.tar.gz 0.2.0-rc3

I downloaded the tarball from GitHub via uscan.

Now, the problem with the 3.0 (quilt) format is the following: Upstream made a
few commits since the tag 0.2.0-rc3, but did not tag them.  With the 1.0 source
format, the difference is simply addde to the "diff.gz" file, alongside with
the debian/ directory.  This is the simplest.  The 3.0 (quilt) format simply
fails to build the package in that situation, and brings no advangage since
there is no need for a patch system.  Here, the workflow is to commit a change
directly and make it available upstream as a Git patch or a pull request.

Here is the URL for the htslib package (work in progress).  I will use Alioth
as soon as it is repaired.  (And update our group policy).

    https://github.com/Debian/htslib

Have a nice day.

-- 
Charles Plessy
Debian Med packaging team,
http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-med
Tsurumi, Kanagawa, Japan