On Fri, May 18, 2012 at 12:02:47PM +0100, Ian Jackson wrote:
> CC'ing the apt list deity@lists.debian.org.
>
> Goswin von Brederlow writes ("Re: Bug#481129: Bug#671503: general: APT repository format is not documented"):
> > Michal Suchanek <michal.suchanek@ruk.cuni.cz> writes:
> > > [ discussions regarding documenting the apt repository format ]
> >
> > I would suggest you look at existing repositories, whatever scraps of
> > information is in the manuals and maybe a bit at the source and start to
> > write a documentation. Once you have that offer it for review and other
> > people can pitch in their bits of knowledge. Getting the current format
> > documented right shouldn't be that hard if someone just starts.
>
> Right.
>
> > And once such a document exists it is much easier to get people do
> > document changes or hit them over the head if they don't.
>
> Can the apt maintainers confirm that once such a document exists, they
> will insist that future contributions to apt which change the
> repository format update the document ?
>
> What form do the apt maintainers think the document should take ?
> Should it eventually be in the apt source package or somewhere else ?
I do not think that APT is responsible for the repository format. The
repository format is defined by ftpmaster, not by APT. APT has to my
knowledge not defined anything new, but only implemented changes to
the repository format after they were introduced by ftpmaster (see
InRelease files).
We currently have three independent implementations of the repository
format in the archive: APT, cupt, smartpm. Furthermore, tools like
debian-cd probably also have some knowledge about the repository
format.
The repository format should thus be part of Policy, not part of
APT. APT is one of the users of that format, not the one defining
it (it might just get stricter in behavior from time to time, just
like compilers). Changes to the format should require approval of
ftpmaster, as they have to implement them on the server-side.
--
Julian Andres Klode - Debian Developer, Ubuntu Member
See http://wiki.debian.org/JulianAndresKlode and http://jak-linux.org/.
Attachment:
pgpsqgj0Bg0nM.pgp
Description: PGP signature