Hi!
* Andres Mejia <mcitadel@gmail.com> [080218 17:54]:
> I've been told that the policy for the get-orig-source target states that
> it "...fetches the most recent version of the original source package...".
> However, I've seen others using the get-orig-source target to regenerate the
> orig tarball for their packages at a particular version. I've been doing this
> as well. Some packages doing this are warsow, ogre, fretsonfire, bulletml,
> and warzone2100.
And I've people jumping a red light. That doesn't mean that it's legal
;)
> So my question is, when Policy states "the most recent version", is it "the
> most recent version _in Debian_" or "the most recent version _upstream_"?
Well... beside that getting the most recent version in Debian would be
quite boring (just fetch it from a mirror and compare a checksum), I
don't know how policy section 4.9 could be read to mean something else
than the most recent upstream version:
=====
4.9 Main building script: debian/rules
[..]
get-orig-source (optional)
This target fetches the most recent version of the original source
package from a canonical archive site (via FTP or WWW, for example),
does any necessary rearrangement to turn it into the original source
tar file format described below, and leaves it in the current
directory.
[..]
=====
Nowhere in this paragraph is Debian or it's archive mentioned; and while
it mentiones the term "source package" it specifically mentions the
"original source package", and the original is made by upstream, isn't
it?
> Even if it doesn't mean "the most recent version _in Debian_", I think it's
> important to supply a target or some other implementation to generate an orig
> tarball for packages at a particular version where upstream doesn't supply a
> clear upstream source package. Packages in experimental and packages whose
> source comes from svn, git, etc. are examples of when some implementation
> should be supplied. Look at warzone2100 for an example.
You are free to create any debian/rules target you like, as long as the
ones mentioned in policy do wha is defined there. Why not define a new
"get-this-orig-source" or something like that?
(I still fail to see, when you would like to use such a target.)
Yours sincerely,
Alexander
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