On Thu, Jun 10, 1999 at 02:02:35PM -0500, Chris Lawrence wrote:
> Package: debian-policy
> Version: 2.5.1.0
> Severity: normal
>
> A recent report on the debian-cd list indicates that space on the
> potato source CDs is very tight (around 10 MB of slack). We are
> virtually certain to exceed this space limitation (and thus enter the
> realm of needing at least 3 source discs) unless we improve the
> compression of source packages. While people have raised legitimate
> objections to the use of bz2 for compressing binary packages, these
> concerns are less relevant to source packages, which are an archival
> medium typically used by a relative minority of users and/or build
> daemons, the latter of which operate essentially non-interactively.
I think that's not quite fair, but I'll address my feelings on the matter
below..
> Therefore, I propose that we permit the use of bzip2 to compress
> source package files (.orig.tar and .diff for most packages, .tar for
> native packages). I further propose that the use of bzip2 be
> mandatory for newly uploaded source files, and that any existing
> source packages in the archive in gzip format exceeding 5 MB of
> compressed space be converted upon the freeze for potato.
I would rather not see bzip2 be mandatory, but I would like to see it be
possible for things like the X sources and other things which truly
benefit. This requires alterations to dpkg and I would suggest that
before this can become policy you're going to have to modify dpkg-dev for
the job.
Ideally if the package is released upstream as a .gz we should use the
.gz. But when it's released as .gz and .bz2 as many things now are, we
should probably use them.
--
Joseph Carter <knghtbrd@debian.org> Debian GNU/Linux developer
PGP: E8D68481E3A8BB77 8EE22996C9445FBE The Source Comes First!
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<Overfiend> lilo: well then, you are probably a responsible thinker.
Welcome to a very small club.
<lilo> Overfiend: welcome me when you join :)
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