Re: file encoding and eol marker in orig.tar.gz
On Thu, Nov 08, 2007 at 03:59:44PM +0100, Bas Wijnen wrote:
> Making changes to make the build work is always good, of course.
> However, when changes are made for the Debian package, this should be
> done in a way which doesn't hide them. When a user sees a package where
> the tarball is repackaged "because some files had to be removed", she's
> not going to expect any changes other than the removal of some files.
> For other changes, we have a nicely working patch system.
That is all documented in README.Debain-source. All the repackaged
packages of mine have such a file which describe, in detail, what I
do. In that sense, it is not hidden.
> > Also, my patches looked too ugly.
>
> And that's not an argument not to use it. :-) If you need to do ugly
> things, then it should look ugly. Putting those changes somewhere where
> they're hard to see may cause other problems which are hard to track
> down (not for you, but for other people who are expecting the have the
> original source). Especially if those changes are needed to make the
> build work, it is important that they are visible like other changes,
> and that's in the .diff.gz (directly or through a patch system, whatever
> you prefer).
I agree on this, and you are very correct. But my mentor recommended
the change, as we were repackaging it anyway. Besides, noting whatever
I've done in README.Debian-source does alleviate suffering a
little. But it's always tough when repackaging... *sigh*
Kumar
--
Kumar Appaiah,
458, Jamuna Hostel,
Indian Institute of Technology Madras,
Chennai - 600 036
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