Package: debian-policy
Version: 4.6.2.1
Severity: wishlist
Hi!
Currently the Debian policy lists several files that are generated by
dpkg tools, but because there was no matching dpkg tool to clean them
up, it delegates that responsibility to packagers. With dpkg 1.22.3 a
new dpkg-buildtree tool was introduced that supports a «clean» action
precisely to take care of removing all these files. In the future I'd
like to change the location of some of these files, but that requires
for packages that do not use a helper to be updated to match the dpkg
behavior. While I expect this to be controlled via dpkg-build-api, it
would be best if such packages switched to use dpkg-buildtree to have
automatic handling when that time comes.
I've worded the changes as an example, because I don't want to impose
that packages should be using this if they are using a helper or that
helpers necessarily have to call it. If you'd prefer me to spell that
out more explicitly I'm happy to try to come up with some wording. It
intends to be more informational than a requirement, as I am going to
be filing wishlist bugs with patches as time permits, anyway.
I'm attaching a patch to add references to that new tool.
Thanks,
Guillem
From afac52fa956087eb737c123682f634fc739c7e20 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Guillem Jover <guil...@debian.org>
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2024 23:37:06 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] =?UTF-8?q?Add=20references=20to=20=C2=ABdpkg-buildtree=20?=
=?UTF-8?q?clean=C2=BB=20for=20debian/{substvars,files}?=
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
These files are generated by dpkg tools (and in some cases by helpers),
but the maintainer was responsible for cleaning them up. There is now
a new command that will take care of cleaning these (and any other
future) files that the dpkg suite might end up generating, making their
introduction easier as the responsibility to remove them shifts back
where it belongs.
---
policy/ch-source.rst | 7 ++++---
1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
diff --git a/policy/ch-source.rst b/policy/ch-source.rst
index 4307e89..2fb05cd 100644
--- a/policy/ch-source.rst
+++ b/policy/ch-source.rst
@@ -685,7 +685,7 @@ variables are also available.
The ``debian/substvars`` file is usually generated and modified
dynamically by ``debian/rules`` targets, in which case it must be
-removed by the ``clean`` target.
+removed by the ``clean`` target (for example with ``dpkg-buildtree clean``).
See :manpage:`deb-substvars(5)` for full details about source variable
substitutions, including the format of ``debian/substvars``.
@@ -725,8 +725,9 @@ building packages to record which files are being generated.
It should not exist in a shipped source package, and so it (and any
backup files or temporary files such as ``files.new``) [#]_ should be
-removed by the ``clean`` target. It may also be wise to ensure a fresh
-start by emptying or removing it at the start of the ``binary`` target.
+removed by the ``clean`` target (for example with ``dpkg-buildtree clean``).
+It may also be wise to ensure a fresh start by emptying or removing it at the
+start of the ``binary`` target.
When ``dpkg-gencontrol`` is run for a binary package, it adds an entry
to ``debian/files`` for the ``.deb`` file that will be created when
--
2.43.0
