Re: numpy 1.2.1, switching to git?
> P.S. bzed, POX, isn't it time to move our packaging to git?
I'm none of them, but I'll speak anyway :) Buxy almost did my point,
I'd like to express me a bit.
To do a change into something different we need a reason: what's the
reason for moving from svn to git? is it because it's cool? (I hope
not ;) ) is it because it has some features missing in svn? maybe, but
which ones? something else?
It's DVCS, ok, but how many time did you have to diff or log a package
offline? How many time did you have to leave uncommitted changes
locally while waiting to connect to network for "svn up && svn co"? it
would be the same for git or svn: you need network to upload a
package, and you need network to update/commit/whatever action on the
repo.
Having a centralized place, to concentrate our work it's a plus, not a
minus for us (IMO): why would you distribute it?
Moreover, I do not want upstream code in the VCS we use for
debianization (I did this error for personal managed pacakges and I do
not want to do it again). Let upsteam tracks his own source code like
he prefers, we do not need re-tracking it in git/svn/XXX, what we want
to do is to keep track of our work, what's in debian/ dir *only*.
If, for packaging reason, you need to "touch" the upstream code, then
checkout the upstream code in whatever place you prefer, using the
same VCS upstream uses, and submit them patches, check differences or
what-so-ever, but that has nothing to do with packaging that tool.
> So that I
> can just commit such patches in a branch and also so that we don't
> have to mess with the orig.tar.gz, svn-uscan and other things
apt-get source --tar-only <src_pkg>
uscan --verbose --repack --rename --destdir=/where/you/keep/tarballs
I don't see too difficult: 1 command (whatever you prefer) comparing
with the many of "vi <file> + dch + build + lintian" loops you do to
prepare a package.
> everything will be in one git repo,
Given my slooooow line, I cannot afford the pain to download every
packages source code + debianization; now, to have a full checkout of
dpmt/papt repositories, I need to launch the commands during the
night. Additionally, doing repositories wide updates will become more
painful, so I have to refrain from "work on every package" but just on
mine.
Moreover, I don't see any reason to have the fullsource code in the
same VCS of debian/ for the myriad of damn-simple packages we have.
Another question: do you know of any other big team (we have ~300 pkgs
in both papt/dpmt so I see us as a big team) that is on git? I know
none :) I'd take the example of pkg-perl: they maintain ~1000 pkgs,
and they are still on svn (but I don't know if the plan to move to git
anytime soon, but they use for some "corner cases" like perl apps).
So, any team experience we can learn from? are the tools ready to
allow a team (not just single/small group of maintainers) to work on a
plethora of packages in a feasible way?
> so users can just download, hit
> one command and they have a working package (as opposed to the current
> scheme, were they need to download svn, then setup some tarball
> directories, then setup svn-uscan, then execute it and only then they
> can actually build the package, so it's very annoying for casual users
> to setup the environment to contribute to the packaging)
What users are you talking about? those that wants to rebuild a
package are experienced used, so they can apt-get source <pkg> and
then debcheckout it or whatever order/way they prefer. A normal used
is "client" of the .deb package installed via
apt-get/aptitude/synaptic/dpkg/
I recognize that some particularly complex packages may need an ad-hoc
management, but the vast majority of the packages in the team do not
need it; so let's "split" those packages in a separate DVCS repository
(maybe still called papt/dpmt) and keep the other where they are.
Concluding, if you ever switch to a DVCS, I'd vote for git, but given
the situation, I don't see a strong need to move away from svn.
Cheers,
Sandro
PS: I may have written it tough (and the "you" is a generic one), but
read it as an open discussion email with ":)" in whatever place you
like :)
--
Sandro Tosi (aka morph, Morpheus, matrixhasu)
My website: http://matrixhasu.altervista.org/
Me at Debian: http://wiki.debian.org/SandroTosi
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