Nikolaus Rath <nikol...@rath.org> writes: > The thing that's delivered to users in 99% of the cases is the binary > package. In the (comparatively) rare cases where the user is retrieving > the source, I am not convinced that most of these users truly prefer a > Debian-specific source package with patches in debian/patches over a > standard Git repository with patches as commits.
Speaking as a Debian user who frequently has to apply local patches or produce local versions of Debian packages for my job (usually weird backports or bizarre local requirements), I cannot express to you how much I prefer a Debian source package with patches in debian/patches over a Git repository with patches as commits. It is not even remotely close. The externalized patches are an order of magnitude easier for me to work with. I have worked with both in the past, and when I got the standard Git repository with patches as commits, it *always* became a maintenance nightmare when the Debian package updated. My local changes then became a blizzard of merge conflicts and life was horrible. I wouldn't say that it is *easy* to update a package with separate patches to a new Debian package release, but it's certainly way *easier*. -- Russ Allbery (r...@debian.org) <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>
