Scripsit Panu Kalliokoski <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > It was pointed to me that packages should be preferably non-native, > even if no source release without the debian/ subdir has ever > existed. > I would like to ask whether there really is such a guideline, and if so, > which are the technical / political reasons that lead to it.
In addition do the answers Lars gave, I think there is a major consideration to make for people who do _not_ use Debian but are still interested in your software. Because of the sheer size of Debian, it is not uncommon to use our source archive as a generic place to find free software sources - sort of a meta-CxAN. For this kind of users, a non-native package is a clear signal that the software is supposed to be generally useful on Linux and probably also other unices. Conversely, a Debian-native package may make people assume that you don't care a bit whether it compiles or runs on other OSes, and that you would be reluctant to accept patches for portability beyond Debian, or patches for easier installation in $HOME for users who are not root on their system, and so on. Further, providing an .orig.tar.gz without the debian/ directory helps prevent confusion for users on non-Debian systems. And if you do provide such a debian/-less tarball for nondebian users then of course you SHOULD use that as pristine source in the Debian package too. And last: if someday _you_ decide that you like, say, Ubuntu better than Debian and start releasing your master distribution there instead of here, confusion will result if the Ubuntu packaging in debian/ cannot be easily separated from the upstream source that a new Debian maintainer might want to package. It is easier to just do it right from the beginning. -- Henning Makholm "Jeg mener, at der eksisterer et hemmeligt selskab med forgreninger i hele verden, som arbejder i det skjulte for at udsprede det rygte at der eksisterer en verdensomspændende sammensværgelse." -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]