On Mon, 2019-04-08 at 00:02 -0400, Peter Silva wrote:
> > If one needs to keep a close eye on changes to make sure they can
> > still
> > be installed even on a years-old OS, the resulting packages can be
> > placed in a custom repository set up with the instructions at
> > https://wiki.debian.org/DebianRepository/Setup>;. What am I
> > missing?
> >
> yes, it can be done, but it is a lot more work for individual
> packagers.
>
> launchpad.net combines:
> - very few clicks to build custom repositories.
> - a build environment for each OS, so that it runs "debuild" in
> the currently patched version of the OS for which the package it
> built.
>
> It saves people from having to build their own custom repository, and
> from having to maintain a build environment for all supported OS
> versions and architectures. on Ubuntu, packages are built for
> 14.04, 16,04, 18.04, 18.10, 19.04, and I get all those just from
> clicking one box for each one. I think it also propagates re-building
> of packages when a build-dependency changes, without my knowledge or
> interaction. It leverages the ubuntu build-farm for third-party
> packages.
>
> With debian, it's kind of all or nothing. Etiher you're in Debian,
> and it gets built on every platform using the build farm, or it's
> not, so you get no help at all. Launchpad gives a nice middle road
> that suits us right now, and if something similar were available for
> debian, it would provide a stepping stone to being in Debian proper.
CMake and VTK upstream here. This was my exact observation a while back
when I tried to package VTK for Debian and Ubuntu. Packaging for Ubuntu
was very easy: just upload your packaging script to launchpad.net and
you're done. For Debian, I had to set up a build machine and an Aptly
repository on a virtual machine that pulls in built packages from
"incoming", inserts them into the Aptly repo, and rsyncs them to a web
server, basically mimicking what the Debian repo infrastructure does.
This was non-trivial to set up, and I found it frustrating that
Launchpad-like infrastructure did not exist for Debian. (Building lots
of packages is easy once you have the infrastructure, but the initial
investment is rather high.) Just my $0.02.
Kyle
