Bug#495233: debian-policy: README.source content should be more detailed

[Lucas Nussbaum <lucas@lucas-nussbaum.net>]

Package: debian-policy
Version: 3.8.0.1

Hi,

I really like the idea of documenting special things about a source
package in debian/README.source. However, I think that section 4.14
could be improved a lot.

First, section 4.14 should list things that one does not need to
describe in debian/README.source. For example, the use of one of the
"standard" patch systems (quilt, dpatch, simple-patchsys) doesn't need
to be documented, since every NMUer should be able to work with them.
Another example is build systems: cdbs is used by >20% of our packages,
so I don't think that one need to document its use.

If you look at the packages currently providing a debian/README.source
(see gluck:~lucas/readme.source for a list), it seems that
debian/README.source is used as a way to generate a large number of
different howtos for patch systems. Having a common way to specify that
one should look at another file if looking for documentation about
something.

Also, it would be interesting to extend the use of debian/README.source
to other areas, such as:
- whether the maintainer encourages commits for other people directly to
  the package's VCS.
- the branch layout in the package's VCS.

Maybe we could have a machine-parseable format to specify those, too.
-- 
| Lucas Nussbaum
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