A repository to pool debian/upstream and debian/copyright files ?

[Charles Plessy <plessy@debian.org>]

Dear all,

in the Debian Med team we are experimenting around the idea of storing metadata
about Upstream in a file called debian/upstream using YAML.  In that
experiment, we are feeding the UDD with bibliograhic references relevant to
some software we package.  While we have not yet reached consensus on which is
the best way to organise that feeding, we got interested in making a repository
of debian/upstream files in any case, with the aim of becoming comprehensive
some day, and we are considering collecting debian/copyright files by the way.

Such a pool, if coverage is high and and if kept up to date, may have some
value for others, and I was considering storing the files in a VCS in Alioth.
While Git is my favorite VCS for packaging, Subversion would have a point there
as the very convenient 'svn cat' would provide an easy and straightforward way
to cherry pick files remotely.

Such a Subversion repository could be hosted in collab-maint or collab-qa, and
I would like to know your opinion on this.  Also, for the file structure, I am
tempted to organise the files in alphanumeric pools, but hesitate between
taking the first character of the package name (same as for the logs in
buildd.debian.org), or following the pool structure of the Debian archive (same
as above, except for packages whose name starts by lib). 

Lastly, it may be shortsighted or in contrary realistic, but I do not plan to
track the packages version, just to gather the most recent data from the source
packages (ideally in its VCS repository).

So in summary: would you mind if I would start to commit debian/upstream and
debian/copyright files somewhere in collab-qa or collab-maint ?

Have a nice day,

-- 
Charles Plessy
Tsurumi, Kanagawa, Japan