Bug#489460: remove alternative changelog formats from main Policy manual
Russ Allbery <rra@debian.org> writes:
> Currently, Policy contains section 4.4.1, which documents the possible
> use of alternative changelog formats. I don't think this section is
> useful or relevant; I think the chances of changing the changelog format
> for the archive are essentially non-existent, and therefore
> documentation of this dpkg feature doesn't properly belong in Policy.
>
> I propose removing it.
>
> I also propose changing the "should"s in the following sentences in
> Policy 4.4 to "must":
Here's the proposed patch. Seconds?
diff --git a/policy.sgml b/policy.sgml
index 24c9072..bbd8c55 100644
--- a/policy.sgml
+++ b/policy.sgml
@@ -1473,10 +1473,6 @@
</p>
<p>
-
- </p>
-
- <p>
The format of the <file>debian/changelog</file> allows the
package building tools to discover which version of the package
is being built and find out other release-specific information.
@@ -1566,17 +1562,17 @@
</p>
<p>
- The <var>date</var> should be in RFC822 format<footnote>
+ The <var>date</var> must be in RFC822 format<footnote>
This is generated by <tt>date -R</tt>.
- </footnote>; it should include the time zone specified
+ </footnote>; it must include the time zone specified
numerically, with the time zone name or abbreviation
optionally present as a comment in parentheses.
</p>
<p>
- The first "title" line with the package name should start
- at the left hand margin; the "trailer" line with the
- maintainer and date details should be preceded by exactly
+ The first "title" line with the package name must start
+ at the left hand margin. The "trailer" line with the
+ maintainer and date details must be preceded by exactly
one space. The maintainer details and the date must be
separated by exactly two spaces.
</p>
@@ -1585,33 +1581,8 @@
For more information on placement of the changelog files
within binary packages, please see <ref id="changelogs">.
</p>
-
- <sect1><heading>Alternative changelog formats</heading>
-
- <p>
- In non-experimental packages you must use a format for
- <file>debian/changelog</file> which is supported by the most
- recent released version of <prgn>dpkg</prgn>.
- </p>
-
- <p>
- It is possible to use a format different from the standard
- one by providing a changelog parser for the format you wish
- to use. The parser must have an API compatible with that
- expected by <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> and
- <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn>, and it must not interact with
- the user at all.
- <footnote>
- If there is general interest in the new format, you should
- contact the <package>dpkg</package> maintainer to have the
- parser script for it included in the <prgn>dpkg</prgn>
- package. (You will need to agree that the parser and its
- man page may be distributed under the GNU GPL, just as the rest
- of <prgn>dpkg</prgn> is.)
- </footnote>
- </p>
- </sect1>
</sect>
+
<sect id="dpkgcopyright">
<heading>Copyright: <file>debian/copyright</file></heading>
<p>
--
Russ Allbery (rra@debian.org) <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>
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