Pkg format should be non-native by default

[John Pugh]

Most packages are complex enough that we should make the default be quilt vs native to allow faster updating via patches

[James Westby (james-w)]

Hi,

Do you really update the code provided by developers in patches in the packaging?

I wouldn't think it would be a useful facility to you because you are mainly dealing
with binaries, even if we were wanting to patch code for the developers (I would think
that it would be a tricky area for us, as we want the developers to own the code.)

Thanks,

James

[John Pugh (jpugh)]

No. We do, however, patch the packaging and quilt packages allow for
easy updates w/o having to increment the entire package. Hence the
desire to use quilt packages.

On 06/13/2012 09:36 AM, James Westby wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Do you really update the code provided by developers in patches in the
> packaging?
>
> I wouldn't think it would be a useful facility to you because you are mainly dealing
> with binaries, even if we were wanting to patch code for the developers (I would think
> that it would be a tricky area for us, as we want the developers to own the code.)
>
> Thanks,
>
> James
>
>
> ** Changed in: pkgme
> Status: New => Incomplete
>

[James Westby (james-w)]

Well, I don't think you would use quilt to change the packaging, but a
non-native format does allow the packaging to change without having to
push the whole thing around.

This change would be a lot more involved than just changing the contents
of the file, as it means we would now have to generate/maintain
.orig.tar.gz files for everything.

The larger question is whether this matters in the pkgme world. If pkgme
gets the packaging right then you don't have to care in theory, and you
don't have to care about how big the source packages you are pushing
around are (until you have a psyconauts)

Maybe it's naive to think that we can reach that world any time soon
though and so having the ability to just upload diffs would be useful.

I think that this will require some more thought as to whether we want
to deal with the extra complexity of non-native packages.

Thanks,

James

On Wed, 13 Jun 2012 13:48:18 -0000, John Pugh <email address hidden> wrote:
> No. We do, however, patch the packaging and quilt packages allow for
> easy updates w/o having to increment the entire package. Hence the
> desire to use quilt packages.
>
> On 06/13/2012 09:36 AM, James Westby wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > Do you really update the code provided by developers in patches in the
> > packaging?
> >
> > I wouldn't think it would be a useful facility to you because you are mainly dealing
> > with binaries, even if we were wanting to patch code for the developers (I would think
> > that it would be a tricky area for us, as we want the developers to own the code.)
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > James
> >
> >
> > ** Changed in: pkgme
> > Status: New => Incomplete
> >
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are a member of pkgme
> committers, which is the registrant for pkgme.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1012461
>
> Title:
> Pkg format should be quilt by default
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/pkgme/+bug/1012461/+subscriptions
>

[Michael Vogt (mvo)]

I'm sure there is something I'm missing here because it seems to me that for pkgme when it starts with a fresh sourcetree the complexity of building a non-native package is relatively low as it "just" needs to build the orig.tar.gz before it writes anything in the debian/ dir and even if it builds the debian dir it could build the orig.tar.gz by simply using tar --exclude=./debian/ (or somesuch, can't remember the exact syntax). I'm happy to work on this if there is agreement and if there is no major gap in my understanding.