Re: Question about watch-file
Hi,
On Wed, Jul 09, 2008 at 07:03:22PM +1000, Ben Finney wrote:
> My suggestion is that comments in the watch file are appropriate to
> document *any* reason why the package maintainer is currently unable
> to provide suitable information for 'uscan'.
Nothing against this. I just would like to be able to have an external
visible indicator about such problems.
> > Despite that I'm not sure if the watch file is the proper place for
> > such a note this has sureley an entitlement, and the watch file
> > can't be fixed anyway, so a warning is inappropriate.
>
> I don't understand what you're saying in this sentence.
Two things:
1) I'm not sure if a watch file is the proper place for documenting a
dead upstream
2) I think that the (by lintian) suggested behaviour in the
dead-upstream case has its entitlement.
> I don't think lintian should be providing such an indication "from the
> outside"; that's more appropriate for the DEHS checker.
The DEHS checker is a good point, didn't think about it.
But you forget that *both* tools are used within externals frameworks,
so lintian is appropriate, too, as long as it has a check for
watchfiles.
> I think the description of 'debian-watch-file-is-missing' should be
> changed to ask the package maintainer to add a watch file regardless:
> either with functional settings for 'uscan', or with comments
> explaining why this can't currently be done.
Sounds reasonable.
> My argument is that lintian, which is a tool suitable for running
> frequently by the package maintainer, should not nag the developer for
> such a common situation. Adding a lintian override is inappropriate if
> the situation is not exceptional, and especially not if the problem
> can be documented in a better way.
I don't think that the current situation qualifies as beeing common. In
my opinion adding watch files is something that needs to be encouraged
and additional is possible in the majority of cases. I accept that there
are cases where it isn't posible or doesn't make sense, but I doubt that
this is common.
> Those who want to find problems like "is the package healthy?" should
> be looking at the DEHS reports, which show this status clearly without
> involvement by lintian. They will then know that 'uscan' had some
> problem, and can examine the watch file, where they'll see whatever
> the package maintainer has written about the situation. No need to get
> lintian involved.
Anyway you convinced me that DEHS is probably the better place for such
things.
Best Regards,
Patrick
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