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Re: [Xen-devel] [PATCH v2] tools: Improve make deb



On 28/02/13 09:40, Stefan Bader wrote:
On 27.02.2013 21:07, Ian Campbell wrote:
On Wed, 2013-02-27 at 20:00 +0000, Alex Bligh wrote:
Bringing debian packaging upstream is (I believe) considered 'no bad
thing'.
On the contrary, Debian discourages upstreams from including a debian/
directory in their releases.

Ian.

I would agree with Ian here. I am sorry, I have not read anything of the
previous discussion but if it is about having a simple way of getting a test
package for deb (and rpm) based systems, the make target approach which is not
using a debian directory sounds better. For testing you likely want just one
package and that does not necessarily need any documentation. And if that was
done in debian/ it would make the Debian maintainers job a pain because the
whole packaging is based on the orig tarball not having that directory. (And
FWIW Ubuntu derives from Debian, there are only changes if we really really have
to).

Just to catch you up Stefan, the discussion isn't about having a simple way to get a test package. We already have that target: "make deb" will create a .deb that when installed will have very similar effects to "make install" -- i.e., just copy a bunch of files into place. The advantage of course being that the .deb keeps track of all the files which need to be *removed* as well, making it easier for developers.

What's being discussed is a more fully-featured .deb target. The current output of "make deb" isn't really suitable for users -- it doesn't do anything with regard to setup, it doesn't test any dependencies, &c -- in other words, it doesn't do anything one normally expects from a mature package management system.

Generally speaking the Xen developers want to encourage users to use the packages available in their distro. That's the best option for the majority of users. However, there are "early-adopter" users who need to / enjoy being on the bleeding edge -- meaning typically, on the very latest point release, as well as able and willing to test RCs before a release. These users perform a very important role in the project, and so it is important (I think) to make it easy for them to download and install these versions.

Alex, what do you think about Ian's suggestion -- i.e., rather than integrate a full-featured .deb package into the Xen build system, intermittently use the Debian Xen target to create a set of .debs and make them available publicly somewhere? If this was done once only for every new release, and then maybe once for each RC (or every other RC) before a release, it shouldn't be too much work I don't think. I think we should probably be able to make space on the xen.org website somewhere to keep them.

Would that be useful for you, or do I misunderstand what it is you need?

(Also, I think that's what Ian was suggesting -- please correct me if I'm wrong, Ian!)

 -George

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