Re: [Monotone-debian] Has anyone really determined what a "native package" is?

[Ludovic Brenta]

Richard Levitte writes:
> Hey,
>
> I've tried to figure out what a "native package" is, and all I can
> find is different voice, basically splitting in two camps:
>
> 1. "native package" is a package that can be built for Debian directly
>    from the source, and thus really needs no Debian-specific diff.
> 2. "native package" is a package that has been created exclusively for
>    Debian, i.e. it originates from the inside the Debian project.
>
> If 1 is true, then I'd say monotone is a native package, and in that
> case, having the debian-diff branch is silly (which it basically
> already is, as it forces us to maintain two, possibly slightly
> different, debian/ structures).  If 2 is true, then we should of
> course continue as we've done until now, but quite honestly, I'm
> unsure how wise that makes keeping the debian/ tree in the n.v.m
> branch.

You are probably alluding to the long argument [1], but the New
Maintainer's Guide [2] is quite clear that only interpretation 2 is
correct.  Granted, the New Maintainer's Guide is not Policy but it is
unwise to go against it.

I am all in favour of completely removing the debian/ directory from
the n.v.m branch and maintaining it only in the debian-diff branch.
Of course, since you do the maintenance work, you get to decide.

[1] http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=457353
[2] http://www.debian.org/doc/maint-guide/ch-update.en.html#s-orig-tar

-- 
Ludovic Brenta.