Bug#868496: debian-policy: Please Clarify Need for update-fonts-dir in postinst and postrm Scripts

[Paul Hardy <unifoundry@gmail.com>]

I am adding the maintainer of the New Maintainer's Guide and the Guide
for Debian Maintainers, Osamu Aoki, to this discussion.  I would like
to reassign this wishlist bug to one of those packages if Osamu
agrees.

On Sun, Jul 16, 2017 at 6:59 PM, Paul Hardy <unifoundry@gmail.com> wrote:
> Sean,
>
> On Sun, Jul 16, 2017 at 5:42 PM, Sean Whitton <spwhitton@spwhitton.name> wrote:
>> Hello Paul,
>>
>> On Sun, Jul 16, 2017 at 04:28:03PM -0700, Paul Hardy wrote:
>>> My intention was to point someone new to packaging fonts in Debian in
>>> the direction of an easy path, rather than leaving it up to that
>>> person to find things out the hard way--or worse yet, doing things the
>>> hard way.
>>
>> Right.  It would be good to have that somewhere ...
>>
>>> How about a footnote pointing to
>>> https://wiki.debian.org/Fonts/PackagingPolicy?  That document is not
>>> formal policy, but it would make life easier for someone if they are
>>> new to packaging fonts.
>>>
>>> Alternatively, do you think this bug report should get reassigned to
>>> the New Maintainer's Guide and be addressed as a request there?  The
>>> scope of that guide is mainly to walk someone through creating a
>>> simple binary package.
>>
>> ... and the new maintainer's guide seems like a decent place.
>>
>> How about adding a section to that guide listing links to packaging
>> guides for specific types of packages, such as fonts?
>
> I can certainly do that if the maintainer of that package would like
> to add such a section.  I have filed a bug report with a set of
> proposed patches for maint-guide, and would wait for that to get
> processed first (with my patches accepted or rejected).

Osamu:
Do you think that mentioning font packaging in the Guide for Debian
Maintainers or the New Maintainer's Guide is appropriate?  If so, I
will reassign this bug to the package you prefer.  I think just a
pointer to https://wiki.debian.org/Fonts/PackagingPolicy with a brief
explanation will be enough, with the expectation that the Fonts Wiki
page will always have the most current information.  If you do not
think that information about packaging fonts belongs in either guide,
let me know and I will try to come up with some other idea.


As of today, the New Maintainer's Guide is still required reading for
New Maintainers, but the Guide for Debian Maintainers is not required
reading.  I will assume that is going to change in the future with
Osamu's focus on the latter document going forward if font packaging
information is added there.  Otherwise, someone wanting to package
fonts for Debian for the first time could still wind up having to hunt
for and hopefully be lucky enough to find the Fonts Wiki page to learn
how.

Thank you,


Paul Hardy