[DEP 12] Relation with DEP 11.
Dear DEP 11 drivers and everybody,
in the course of the discussion about DEP 12, which is about storing upstream
metadata on file per source package, formatted in YAML, it was asked the
relationship between our projects and the possibilities of convergence.
Personally, I am in favor of convergence if it is practical, that is, if it
does not postpone the achievement of our goals by setting the bar too high.
I note a couple of key differences between DEP 11 and DEP 12, and would be
interested in hearing your opinion about.
- DEP 11 targets binary packages, and DEP 12 targets source packages. For DEP
12, recording the information per binary packages would create a lot of
duplication. One solution would be to use the Debian source package control
file (debian/control), with the fields in the binary package paragraphs taking
precedence over the fields in the header paragraph. However, following
that way would strongly change what a source package control file looks like,
and I am afraid that it would take a long time to reach a consensus.
- DEP 11 is mostly about the production of a single archive-wide file, while
DEP 12 is about the production of one file per source package (which is used
to feed the Ultimate Debian Database). It would be straightforward for
volunteers to take upstream metadata and inject it either the ComponentMetadata
file proposed by DEP 11 or in another file. Given that DEP 12 is only about
the format of the metadata, I do not see a conflict here.
- DEP 11 looks mostly relevant for binary packages shipping Desktop
applications, while DEP 12 is relevant to all non-native packages. It is
still very unclear to me what will be the source of the data in DEP 11. Will
it be the FreeDesktop Desktop Entry files found in the upstream sources ? If
it is the case, we would have different data flows, as for DEP 12, most
upstream sources do not contain files with the metadata, which justifies the
creation of an entirely new file, while in the case of DEP 11, the best way to
update the metadata would be to send patches upstream.
Have a nice week-end,
--
Charles Plessy
Tsurumi, Kanagawa, Japan
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