Well, I think, if I can get it to work, that the new source format will be fine. _IF_ I can get it to work.
I've looked at the docs, I've examined hello and dpkg, and I'll be damned if I can find any information that would allow me to actually reproduce the files that were uploaded to master, and assuming that dpkg was in fact build with the utilties it includes, this is annoying. My first problem stems from the simple fact that the new process of building a package isn't terribly well documented in the programmers manual---it devotes a whole sentence to saying "Look at dpkg-source(1)". Since I missed that sentence, I was baffled for a while. This was compounded by the fact that, since the 'source' target is still listed in the .PHONY target, when you do 'debian/rules source', you get "Nothing to do for target source", rather than "Don't know how to make source", or even better, "Source is an obsolete target, please use dpkg-source". Anyways, I finally figured out that I had to invoke dpkg-source. So I tried dpkg-source, and here's what I get: dpkg-source: building hello in hello_1.3.orig.tar.gz tar: Cowardly refusing to create an empty archive Try `tar --help' for more information. dpkg-source: failure: tar gave error exit status 2 Since I had both appropriate hello-1.3 and hello-1.3.orig directories, I figured maybe I was doing something wrong in invoking dpkg-source, so I looked around a little more and found dpkg-buildpackage. After figuring out that it needs to be run from within the debian source directory, I ran it, and lo and behold, it has the same problem with dpkg-source that I do. So, I've got the tools, but I can't get them to work, and furthermore, most of them aren't even mentioned in the draft programmers manual that goes to great lengths to document the files and requirements and so forth, without ever really discussing the the tools, or how to use them. I'd really like to know what I'm doing wrong, so I can move ahead on this. Also, on the subject of our available examples: I think the debian/rules file in the hello source package makes at least 1 poor decisions in how certain things should be implemented---and given that prospective maintainers are often pointed in its direction, I think we should take care of these before immortalizing them. For instance, Bruce seems to have originated a much more sensible construct for seeing to the creation of the directories from which the package is built. Instead of just throwing 'install -d' commands in the body of the 'binary' target, a list of target directories is constructed and a target created that will iterate over that list, creating directories as it goes. The binary target is then made dependent upon that target. This is 1000% easier when you're working with a complex package that needs a lot of directories. It would also be nice if we could produce some simple tools that would help take care of some of the small administrative headaches automatically---say, a tool that would look through the debian directory and install all appropriate files into the DEBIAN directory, running them through any appropriate filters. Another useful tool would go through the temporary directory structure and assign permissions and ownerships. Certains parts of the tree (*/bin, */man, you get the idea) would have defaults associated with them (0755, for */bin, 0644, for */man, root.root owning everything, etc). The package maintainer would then need only supply the program with a list of the exceptions (along with correct perms and ownership), and the rules file then could just execute _that_ command with su -c, since nothing else would need that access (well, the clean command might). Now I know that there are always situations in which this just wouldn't work, and that's fine---there's nothing that stops a rules file from overriding parts of this when necessary. The important thing is that tools like this would make the creation of 90%+ package that much more automated, and most likely that much more free of the little bugs that clutter up the bug system. Mike. -- "Don't let me make you unhappy by failing to be contrary enough...."
