Hi, Matt Kraai wrote: [apt-get source does not work on binNMU'd packages]
I think we should rather fix the binNMU process. The "+b[0-9]*" thing is only a convention, after all, and there are others in use (e.g. when backporting).
I don't have a problem with changing the binNMU process, but I'm afraid that doing so may take some time and I don't see how to go about it. If changing the process will take some time, would it be possible to apply this patch until it is? How could the process be changed?
In principle, every Package entry in Packages needs a Source field that points to the source package name and version number; the version number is optional if it is the same as the binary package version, the entire field is optional if the name and version matches.
If no Source field is being generated, this would indicate a problem in the binNMU.
I don't see the parallel to backporting, since isn't a new, corresponding source package generated when a package is backported?
If the source package can be compiled directly without any changes, it is sufficient to attach a tilde and some descriptive text to the version number and rebuild -- the source version number would in principle stay the same, although current dpkg-dev cannot handle that properly.
Check out my archive of backported cross toolchains[1] to see what I mean. Simon [1] deb http://www.emdebian.org/experimental-toolchains etch main