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Re: Bug#821363: debian-policy: Allow line-end comments in all Debian packaging control files



Guillem Jover <guillem@debian.org> writes:

> In the case of the copyright file, the document specifying it does not
> list # as valid comment markers.

When we were drafting that specification, I at least intended this text:

   The syntax of the file is the same as for other Debian control files,
   as specified in the Debian Policy Manual. See its section 5.1 for
   details.

to mean the same syntax as ‘debian/control’. I wasn't even aware when
drafting it, that a question of comments in one file but not another
could arise based on the file name.

Certainly my intention in that specification was for comments to be
allowed in the ‘debian/copyright’ file just as they are in
‘debian/control’.

> For example parsing debian/copyright files (or any other file using
> deb822-based syntax) via the Dpkg::Control::Hash perl module would
> make it accept such comments, but I don't know if other parsers will
> accept those too.

That's a good criterion. Which parsers would you suggest we verify? The
Emacs mode, the Dpkg Perl modules, and other tools I have used do not
complain when comments are used in any control-syntax file.

What would constitute a sufficient degree of investigation of existing
parsers for this issue?

-- 
 \        “I took a course in speed waiting. Now I can wait an hour in |
  `\                                 only ten minutes.” —Steven Wright |
_o__)                                                                  |
Ben Finney


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