Ubuntu and Debian packaging

[Jordi Gutiérrez Hermoso]

2011/2/10 Thomas Weber <address@hidden>:
> On Wed, Feb 09, 2011 at 08:53:10AM -0600, Jordi Gutiérrez Hermoso wrote:

>> I'm going to subscribe pkg-octave-devel to the Octave Ubuntu bugs so
>> that at least we hear about them.
>
> No, you will not! Ubuntu decides what they ship and what not, in what
> version, with whatever default compiler flags, with whatever additional
> patches, ...
>
> They ship it, they handle it. They take the praise, they take the blame.
> Period.

I don't think this is a good idea. Like it or not, the vast majority
of users of our Debian package are in Ubuntu, and there is no one in
Ubuntu watching them. Ubuntu users can't tell the difference between
Debian and Ubuntu, so if the Ubuntu package is wrong, *we* get the
blame. It's not helpful to be, if you'll pardon the phrase, tribal
here. If we are doing this because we want to help other people, the
best way to help them right now is to at least occasionally glance at
what Ubuntu is doing, because that's how we reach the largest number
of people.

Also, the Ubuntu bugs are already getting reported to the Octave PTS,
bottom right:

     http://packages.qa.debian.org/o/octave3.2.html

The PTS emails have a "derivatives-bugs" tag that we can use to
subscribe the mailing list to:

     
http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/developers-reference/resources.html#pkg-tracking-system

The good news is that you already (perhaps inadverently?) patched the
bug that sparked this conversation, and the N-release of Ubuntu has it
fixed. If we hurry up with the 3.4 packaging, it'll make it into
Ubuntu's O-release (oblique opossum, or whatever).

- Jordi G. H.