On Sun, Jun 12, 2005 at 04:00:17PM +0900, Junichi Uekawa wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> > That being said, a recent post on -devel by Lars Wirzenius[1] made me
> > realize that this problem is about more than (c)dbs; thus, I've changed
> > the concept to make it broader.
> > 
> > I'm hereby rescinding all previous proposals I made on #250202, to
> > replace them with the following:
> 
> Your proposal met some objections due to the fact that 'source' is an
> already widely used keyword; and is in a limbo state although two 
> developers already seconded it.
> 
> AFAICT, no action has been taken after approx two months.
> Care to give an update?

Yes. I would've done so earlier, but I thought it more urgent to work on
helping to get Sarge out the door than to finish up this proposal :-)

Anyway. Thanks to your excellent research in
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> in this bug (and your reminder on IRC
that you did this :-), we know that the "patched" target is not used by
any package yet. Thus, I'll modify the proposal that I set out in
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> to say the target should be
"patched", rather than "source". For reference, the proposal as it now
reads follows; as always, I'm looking for seconds.

--- policy.sgml.orig    2005-06-12 11:18:28.000000000 +0200
+++ policy.sgml 2005-06-12 11:19:47.000000000 +0200
@@ -2098,6 +2098,43 @@
          the file to the list in <file>debian/files</file>.</p>
       </sect>
 
+      <sect id="readmesource">
+        <heading>Source package handling: 
<file>debian/README.source</file></heading>
+       <p>
+         It is assumed that for any Debian package, by running
+         <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> one can edit files in the
+         package and build a modified version. This is a good thing;
+         it allows people not familiar with the package to easily
+         edit it to prepare non-maintainer uploads, security uploads,
+         or local modified versions; it also easily allows people to
+         automatedly audit the source, or to generate statistics over
+         a large portion of the source packages in the
+         archive. Maintainers should, therefore, try to avoid doing
+         anything which might break this assumption.</p>
+       <p>
+         If, even after this warning, a maintainer still chooses to
+         do so by either creating the layout of the source package
+         such that running <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> does not
+         render editable source, or by managing files anywhere in the
+         package in such a way that running
+         <prgn>dpkg-buildpackage</prgn> may overwrite changes, then
+         they should create a file <file>debian/README.source</file>
+         documenting the way the source package is structured; such a
+         file would typically explain to someone not familiar with
+         the package how to create a modified version of the
+         package. It would also document any gotchas one might
+         encounter.</p>
+       <p>
+         In addition, maintainers should create a target
+         <tt>patched</tt> to the <prgn>debian/rules</prgn> file. This
+         target, if present, should unpack source archives, apply
+         patches, generate files, and generally prepare the unpacked
+         source package to modification. Running <prgn>debian/rules
+         binary</prgn> after <prgn>debian/rules patched</prgn>
+         <em>must not</em> erase any changes, and it must also not
+         fail.
+       </p>
+
     </chapt>

-- 
The amount of time between slipping on the peel and landing on the
pavement is precisely one bananosecond

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