On Mon, Nov 18, 2024 at 05:40:55PM +0200, Kari Pahula wrote: > With all the recent talk about increasing the use of git for > packaging, I'd like to address one thing: git-buildpackage is very > complex to use. As an alternative, I'd like to propose a simpler > setup: > > - Only store debian/ in the repository and use origtargz for the rest. > > - One branch per distribution you target. > > - Only tag debian revisions. > > That's it, less is more. The master branch would be just a single > debian directory. What it specifically wouldn't have is an upstream > branch and no extracted upstream sources in any permanent branch.
Let me start by saying that I understand where you're coming from; any tool that allows different use scenarios will almost inevitably grow more and more complex with time, and become more and more difficult to use by beginners, unless there are good tutorials and step-by-step recipes for the most common cases. TBH, I think that the git-buildpackage manual is relatively easy to read and understand, but, of course, that opinion of mine is tainted by the fact that I cannot exactly be called a beginner :) (although there are new things I learn about Debian packaging every month) However... different people are used to different workflows. I personally really, really like the fact that I have the Git history of all the upstream files in the same repo and I don't have to go over to a different repo to figure out what changed when. Also, I like that immediately after `gbp import-orig` I can run `git show upstream` to review the diff (TBH, me being very pedantic, I usually have already given it a quick glance using `diff -urN` on unpacked tarballs before even importing it, if only to figure out if there are new files that I need to exclude, but that's not always the case), and that I can at any time later run `git diff upstream/2.17.18..upstream/3.14.15 path` or similar commands. I have even been known to use `git bisect` in a Debian package directory in some weird cases. And yes, all of that can be handled in a separate Git repo with a clean checkout of the upstream repository without any of the Debian fluff; however, that would require me switching between terminals/tmux panes/whatever, and sometimes that seems like too much work when I can have it all in a single repository :) So... yes, a simpler setup would work for some people, and it may be better for beginners. However, there are some benefits to a full repository containing both the upstream source and the Debian changes, and some people like to use them every now and then. Still, thanks for your desire to make working on Debian easier and better! G'luck, Peter -- Peter Pentchev r...@ringlet.net r...@debian.org pe...@morpheusly.com PGP key: https://www.ringlet.net/roam/roam.key.asc Key fingerprint 2EE7 A7A5 17FC 124C F115 C354 651E EFB0 2527 DF13
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