Bug#459427: Patch seeking seconds on changelog vs. NEWS handling
On Sun, 22 Jul 2018 11:35:48 +0800, Sean Whitton wrote:
> > +If an upstream release notes file is available, containing a summary
> > +of changes between upstream releases intended for end users of the
> > +package and often called ``NEWS``, it should be accessible as
> > +``/usr/share/doc/package/NEWS.gz``. An older practice of installing
> > +the upstream release notes as ``/usr/share/doc/package/changelog.gz``
> > +is permitted but deprecated.
> > +
> > +If there is no release notes file available, but there is an upstream
> > +changelog, it should be accessible as
> > +``/usr/share/doc/package/changelog.gz``. If there are both upstream
> > +release notes and an upstream changelog available, it is recommended
> > +to install the former but not the latter.
Let me see if I got this right, and apply it to the typical pkg-perl
package:
CPAN distributions usually contain no NEWS file, and do contain a
Changes/ChangeLog/... file which is "an upstream release notes file"
per the above definition (hand-written by the upstream maintainer,
targetted at end users). (Numbers in message #65 in this bug report.)
Currently we (i.e. typically dh_installchangelogs) install this
Changes file as /usr/share/doc/package/changelog.gz. In the future
we'd need to install it as /usr/share/doc/package/NEWS.gz; or still
as changelog.gz if we can live with the deprecation (will this be
allowed "forever"?).
Did I get this right so far?
If we want to install it as NEWS.gz we either have a tremendous
amount of work or we can wait for dh_installchangelogs to grow some
magic to do it for us (pr provide patches of course :)). And then
probably everyone who knows CPAN habits and/or has used Debian in the
last 25 years will still be at least slightly confused.
If we continue to install it as changelog.gz we hit the "deprecated"
case, and we might confuse other users, who - as per the change above
- expect changelog.gz to be the source-level changelog.
As written in message #140 in December, I still think we have two
questions: which kind of files to install, and under which names.
I think there's consensus for the first one, and this is expressed
well in this patch. As for the second one, I have to admit that (if
I'm reading the patch correctly) I'm still not happy of this forced
rename of (CPAN) ChangeLogs to (GNU) NEWS.gz ...
Cheers,
gregor
--
.''`. https://info.comodo.priv.at -- Debian Developer https://www.debian.org
: :' : OpenPGP fingerprint D1E1 316E 93A7 60A8 104D 85FA BB3A 6801 8649 AA06
`. `' Member VIBE!AT & SPI Inc. -- Supporter Free Software Foundation Europe
`- BOFH excuse #421: Domain controller not responding
Reply to: