Re: Bug#547272: policy 5.6.16 - Format field: Is it really 1.5?
On Fri, Sep 18 2009, Raphael Hertzog wrote:
> Hi,
>
> On Fri, 18 Sep 2009, Giacomo A. Catenazzi wrote:
>> In policy 5.6.16, about Format field I read:
>> : This field specifies a format revision for the file. The most
>> current format : described in the Policy Manual is version 1.5. The
>> syntax of the format : value is the same as that of a package version
>> number except that no epoch : or Debian revision is allowed - see
>> Version, Section 5.6.12.
> This paragraph is completely outdated. It dates back to
> before 1999. At that time the Format: field was only allowed in
> .changes and the version was indeed 1.5. (Git history of dpkg goes
> back to 1996 and it was already 1.5 at that time)
> Changes from 1.5 to 1.6:
> http://git.debian.org/?p=dpkg/dpkg.git;a=commitdiff;h=bb17f303ae14541b2d5ed39d8344cb45050b385e
> Addition of Closes.
> Changes from 1.6 to 1.7:
> http://git.debian.org/?p=dpkg/dpkg.git;a=commitdiff;h=c95d38c8d09a248602e245f3f5ddd0f7558c79b3
> Addition of Changed-By and meaning of Maintainer changed.
> Changes from 1.7 to 1.8:
> http://git.debian.org/?p=dpkg/dpkg.git;a=commitdiff;h=ce38fa696de36b1978153e5ec53535a287be3bac
> Addition of Checksums-*.
> It should tell that in .dsc it's really tied to the format of the
> whole source package (and not only the .dsc file)
Hmm. Has this changed recently? The format field appears in a
.dsc file and in the .changes file, and I assumed it referred to the
format of the file it was found in, and helped in parsing the .dsc and
the .changes files.
However, looking over the actual files, I think that the format
field means something different in .dsc and in .changes files. In .dsc
files it seems to refer to the source package format (currently 1.0),
however, in the .changes file, it actually does refer to the format
version of the .changes file.
This does mean we have to clarify the differing semantics of the
Format field in different control files. In retrospect, I wish that the
.dsc field had been called Src-Format, or something.
> and that it can be more than a version number.
I assume this refers to the Format field in the .dsc file.
Since policy does not currently say anything about the Format field in
the .dsc file, we would need to mention any constraints on the Format
field, and what the values the field may take. Can you expand on this,
please?
manoj
--
"It is easier to fight for principles than to live up to them." Alfred
Adler
Manoj Srivastava <srivasta@debian.org> <http://www.debian.org/~srivasta/>
1024D/BF24424C print 4966 F272 D093 B493 410B 924B 21BA DABB BF24 424C
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