Re: Bug#171221: openmotif: openmotif is not a native package

[Gerd Knorr <kraxel@debian.org>]

> On Sat, Nov 30, 2002 at 05:24:58PM +0100, Gerd Knorr wrote:
> > 
> > "should" or "must"?  I can't find anything in the policy saying
> > I *must* package it this way, it just says it is usually done this
> > way.  Thus I hereby close that bug.
> 
> It is specified in C.3.

Well, it is exactly that section -- especially the last paragraph --
which IMHO allowes to package the whole thing as one single tarball
instead of .orig.tar.gz + diff.  Native debian packages are listed as
typical example for that, but I don't see noted that other packages are
not allowed to be packaged that way.

> > I didn't modify the upstream tarball btw.  It is as-is within the
> > uploaded tarball, together with patches and other files I need to
> > build the debs.
> 
> Perhaps the general opinion on this has changed.  What do other
> developers think about this?

I especially dislike the one-patch-for-the-whole-package approach.
I feel more comfortable with multiple patches for multiple issues
to fix / customize / configure / whatever.  Thats why I tar up the
vanilla upstream tarball + the patches into the debian source tarball,
and then do the unpacking and patching as first step of the build
process.

  Gerd

PS: I'm not on the policy list, so take care to Cc: either me or bug
    #171221 if you expect comments from me ...

-- 
Gerd Knorr <kraxel@debian.org>