| 1 |
$Id: nm_pp2.txt,v 1.16 2008-03-07 14:08:14 he Exp $
|
| 2 |
|
| 3 |
Lets go on to the second half of the Policy and Procedures test. It
|
| 4 |
asks about basic Debian rules and the proper method of interacting
|
| 5 |
with Debian resources.
|
| 6 |
|
| 7 |
I assume you have read the documents I mentioned in the first half
|
| 8 |
of P&P, they should help you answer the following questions. At the
|
| 9 |
bottom of this mail I also list some interesting packages and point to
|
| 10 |
mailing lists you might want to subscribe to.
|
| 11 |
|
| 12 |
|
| 13 |
Bug Tracking System
|
| 14 |
-------------------
|
| 15 |
|
| 16 |
BT2. You have a package (current version 1.3), with a set of open bugs:
|
| 17 |
|
| 18 |
#123: eats lots of memory (fixed in 1.2)
|
| 19 |
#345: please package version 1.4
|
| 20 |
#567: typo in package description
|
| 21 |
#789: segfaults every Sunday (fixed in 1.4)
|
| 22 |
#901: please move config file to /usr/local/etc
|
| 23 |
|
| 24 |
Please write a changelog entry for the upload of the new version
|
| 25 |
1.4 of the package. What do you do with the bugs not mentioned
|
| 26 |
in the changelog?
|
| 27 |
|
| 28 |
BT6. What do you do if you want to reach the submitter of a bug and keep a
|
| 29 |
copy of the mail in the BTS?
|
| 30 |
|
| 31 |
BT8. Please explain what a usertag is and why they're useful.
|
| 32 |
How do you tag a bug with a usertag?
|
| 33 |
|
| 34 |
|
| 35 |
Procedures
|
| 36 |
----------
|
| 37 |
|
| 38 |
PR1. Is there any of these bits of Debian that you haven't heard of, or
|
| 39 |
of which you would like to know more?
|
| 40 |
- The Debian QA team
|
| 41 |
- The Debian l10n team
|
| 42 |
- The Debian Website team
|
| 43 |
- Bug Squashing Parties
|
| 44 |
- Debtags
|
| 45 |
- The Debian Wiki
|
| 46 |
- Comaintenance
|
| 47 |
- Maintaining packages in version control systems
|
| 48 |
- Alioth
|
| 49 |
- UDD
|
| 50 |
- backports.debian.org
|
| 51 |
- other teams from http://wiki.debian.org/Teams
|
| 52 |
- Anything else?
|
| 53 |
Note that I only want to show that they exist and to offer pointers or
|
| 54 |
tips if you are interested.
|
| 55 |
|
| 56 |
PR3. What should you do when a security bug is discovered in one of your
|
| 57 |
packages? What steps do you need to fix a problem in one of your
|
| 58 |
packages in the stable release?
|
| 59 |
|
| 60 |
PR7. You can't/won't maintain a package properly any more because
|
| 61 |
you have a lack of time/don't use it anymore. What are your
|
| 62 |
options to handle this situation?
|
| 63 |
|
| 64 |
PR8. You just discovered a bug in many packages. What are your next
|
| 65 |
steps? Are there alternatives to filing bugs?
|
| 66 |
|
| 67 |
PR9. Should you happily sign another developer's OpenPGP key? If not,
|
| 68 |
please explain the checks you will make before signing it.
|
| 69 |
|
| 70 |
PRa. Do you know how to create a revocation certificate for your OpenPGP key?
|
| 71 |
Do you have one? Why can it be meaningful to set a key expiration date?
|
| 72 |
|
| 73 |
PRb. What would you do if you wanted to retire from the project?
|
| 74 |
|
| 75 |
|
| 76 |
That's the second part of P&P. When we are done with this, we will
|
| 77 |
continue with T&S, the Tasks and Skills.
|
| 78 |
|
| 79 |
|
| 80 |
Mailing Lists
|
| 81 |
-------------
|
| 82 |
|
| 83 |
A word on mailing lists: there are quite a lot of Debian mailing lists
|
| 84 |
now as well as packaging-related packages, and I'd just like to check with
|
| 85 |
you that you know about the key ones.
|
| 86 |
|
| 87 |
debian-announce: Major public announcements
|
| 88 |
|
| 89 |
debian-devel-announce: Major announcements to the developer community
|
| 90 |
|
| 91 |
These two lists are must-subscribes. Everything else is optional. I have
|
| 92 |
abbreviated 'debian-' to '-' in what follows.
|
| 93 |
|
| 94 |
-security-announce: security updates to stable
|
| 95 |
|
| 96 |
-private: you'll be subscribed automatically when your new-maintainer
|
| 97 |
application is accepted (but you can unsubscribe if you wish);
|
| 98 |
the list is used for sensitive discussions, etc.
|
| 99 |
|
| 100 |
-infrastructure-announce: announcements to Debian's machine
|
| 101 |
infrastructure
|
| 102 |
|
| 103 |
-devel: general mailing list for developer issues
|
| 104 |
|
| 105 |
-policy: where possible changes to debian-policy are discussed
|
| 106 |
|
| 107 |
-mentors: where you can help newbie maintainers
|
| 108 |
|
| 109 |
-project: project related discussions
|
| 110 |
|
| 111 |
There are many others; check the mailing list page on the web site
|
| 112 |
for details. Posting to debian-devel-announce and debian-infrastructure-announce
|
| 113 |
are restricted to mails GPG signed by the according keys in the Debian keyring.
|
| 114 |
|
| 115 |
|
| 116 |
Important Packages
|
| 117 |
------------------
|
| 118 |
|
| 119 |
Now lets take a look at some important packages for an upcoming Debian
|
| 120 |
Developer. There are many of them, I will try to list the more important
|
| 121 |
ones.
|
| 122 |
|
| 123 |
build-essential
|
| 124 |
A package that depends on all the packages in the build
|
| 125 |
essential list. It's useful to make sure everything in the list
|
| 126 |
is installed on the system when building and testing your own
|
| 127 |
packages.
|
| 128 |
|
| 129 |
dpkg-dev All of the primary tools needed to put a Debian package
|
| 130 |
together: dpkg-buildpackage, dpkg-source, etc.
|
| 131 |
|
| 132 |
debhelper A very useful set of scripts designed to make
|
| 133 |
debian/rules files more readable and uniform.
|
| 134 |
But you should be able to build a package without it.
|
| 135 |
|
| 136 |
debian-policy
|
| 137 |
Describes the policy relating to packages and details of
|
| 138 |
the packaging mechanism. Covers everything from
|
| 139 |
required gcc options to the way the maintainer scripts
|
| 140 |
(postinst etc.) work, package sections and priorities,
|
| 141 |
etc. An absolute must-read. Also useful is the file
|
| 142 |
/usr/share/doc/debian-policy/upgrading-checklist.txt.gz,
|
| 143 |
which lists changes between versions of policy.
|
| 144 |
You must read and understand it.
|
| 145 |
|
| 146 |
doc-debian Lots of useful Debian-specific documentation: the
|
| 147 |
constitution and DFSG, explanation of the Bug Tracking
|
| 148 |
System (BTS), etc.
|
| 149 |
|
| 150 |
maint-guide
|
| 151 |
The New Maintainer's Guide to making Debian packages.
|
| 152 |
|
| 153 |
devscripts Lots of useful (and not-so-useful) scripts to help build
|
| 154 |
packages.
|
| 155 |
|
| 156 |
developers-reference
|
| 157 |
Lots of information on procedures and suchlike.
|
| 158 |
(http://www.debian.org/doc/developers-reference/ is often
|
| 159 |
more up-to-date.)
|
| 160 |
|
| 161 |
dupload or dput
|
| 162 |
Uploads packages to the archive once they are built.
|
| 163 |
|
| 164 |
fakeroot Build packages without having to be root.
|
| 165 |
|
| 166 |
reportbug Tool to report bugs.
|
| 167 |
|
| 168 |
debootstrap
|
| 169 |
Allows you to "install" Debian's base on a given directory
|
| 170 |
anywhere on the filesystem. Combined with a chroot and
|
| 171 |
build-essential, this makes for a nice way to have a clean
|
| 172 |
environment where you can build your packages.
|
| 173 |
|
| 174 |
pbuilder Gives you an easy way to use debootstrap to test your
|
| 175 |
packages in a sane environment.
|
| 176 |
|
| 177 |
sbuild Tool to build your packages in a chroot (useful for
|
| 178 |
verifying build-deps).
|
| 179 |
|
| 180 |
lintian A tool to check your package for commonly made errors. You
|
| 181 |
should never upload a package which is not checked by it.
|
| 182 |
|
| 183 |
piuparts Gives an easy way to test installing, upgrading, and
|
| 184 |
removing your package in a clean Debian system. Helps to
|
| 185 |
find leftovers due to broken maintainer scripts.
|
Parent Directory
| 
Revision Log