Holger Levsen writes ("legacy crap, we must all switch to dgit else we are
stupid (was Re: Include git commit id and git tree id in *.changes files when
uploading?_"):
> On Mon, Jan 05, 2026 at 04:59:18PM +0000, Ian Jackson wrote:
> > Sadly, "well-maintained" by current (legacy) Debian standards
>
> Ian, I perceive your constant bashing of Debian legacy equals crap (*)
I'm sorry to be pissing you off. I'm not sure this will help, but:
Debian does many excellent things. Many of the things Debian has been
doing for decades are still very good things to be doing. In many
areas Debian's technology - even some of our decades-old software - is
still the most advanced, capable, and reliable in existence.
But, I'll come right out and say it:
Debian source packages are crap.
They were a great idea at the time[1]. Even "3.0 (quilt)", which I
have very serious reservations about, represents a reasonable set of
engineering compromises given the needs and available means, at the
time.
But dscs have been thoroughly obsoleted by modern distributed revision
control systems, particularly git. Modern revision control is simply
far superior.
Most Debian maintainers have noticed this which is why everything[*]
is in git on Salsa now. We're already all[*] treating dsc like the
compatibility output format that it is.
But if you're *outside* Debian, particularly, if you're trying to run
a derivative, or are some random user who doens't know much about
Debian, our official answer is "use apt-source".
This is an outrage. We are keeping the good stuff to ourselves. Yes,
a user *can* go to Salsa but it's not automatically useable, and it's
practically unnavigable to an outsider.
Regards,
Ian.
[1] Maybe you think I would say that because I invented them, but
there are plenty of things I've invented that were a stupid idea at
the time. Ask me in a bar some time.
[*] Hyperbole, yes.
--
Ian Jackson <[email protected]> These opinions are my own.
Pronouns: they/he. If I emailed you from @fyvzl.net or @evade.org.uk,
that is a private address which bypasses my fierce spamfilter.
