On Sun, 17 Aug 2014 10:36:22 -0700, Russ Allbery <r...@debian.org> wrote: >It's good to be aware of the option to improve the upstream source so that >packaging it is easier and so that it works better for everyone with less >configuration.
I find packaging easier when I work around a limitation in the upstream software by dropping a handful of lines in a shell script instead of letting the upstream software grow additional command line options, probably extensive changes in the code with the potential of introducing more vulnerability _and_ making work harder for the security team. > I find that it's easy, when packaging software for Debian, >to fall into the mindset that I'm only doing packaging and that the >upstream source is what it is and can't be changed. But, of course, the >whole reason why we work on open source software is that this is not true. >The upstream source *can* be changed and improved for everyone. I usually refrain from changing upstream source when I can work around a limitation in _my_ code. Of course, I file bug/wishlist reports upstream and in many cases the workaround could be removed from the package in a later release. >In this particular case, dynamically discovering the network interfaces by >default (while still allowing the list of interfaces to be overridden from >the command line) gets the software closer to working with zero >configuration on *all* platforms, and we know that our users much prefer >zero configuration setups (as long as there's still an option to override >for local needs). So while more work that option makes the software >better for everyone in the long run. Changes of this order of magnitude is way beyond my capabilities, both regarding time and skill. Greetings Marc -- -------------------------------------- !! No courtesy copies, please !! ----- Marc Haber | " Questions are the | Mailadresse im Header Mannheim, Germany | Beginning of Wisdom " | http://www.zugschlus.de/ Nordisch by Nature | Lt. Worf, TNG "Rightful Heir" | Fon: *49 621 72739834 -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-devel-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: https://lists.debian.org/e1xj5dw-0005gk...@swivel.zugschlus.de