Using dh for debian-policy packaging
Hi all,
The current debian-policy package build rules generate a package using the
low-level dpkg plumbing directly, including calling dpkg --build. This is
something Manoj did routinely in his packages, and I subsequently
preserved it since it made some sense to me for the Debian Policy package
to not rely on any of the various helper layers.
Over time, though, I've started changing my mind on this. While there's
some argument for Debian Policy being a special case, I think there's a
much stronger argument for having the packaging be boring and typical and
looking like any other package in the archive. I don't think we've really
benefited from the manual packaging over the years, and there have been
various minor bugs I've had to fix that would have been fixed
automatically (most recently not passing the correct flags to gzip for
reproducible builds).
I therefore intend to:
- Move all the formatting build machinery into the top-level Makefile.
- Convert the packaging to dh with a minimal debian/rules file.
- Move the doc-base registration files into debian with *.doc-base names.
My guess is that nearly no one will care, but if I'm missing some reason
not to do this, please let me know.
--
Russ Allbery (rra@debian.org) <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>
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