Thanks for all the comments! Trying to summarize and expand on the points raised:
Seems this is still the most optimal way to ensure git is correct: gbp import-dsc --verbose --pristine-tar apt:j4-dmenu-desktop/sid Also, dgit pull can be used to get the latest source automatically, but unfortunately those git commits are made as a custom "Debian as a git repo" representation, and is not compatible with using CI testing and code review before upload in the way many of us are doing on Salsa currently. Seems also others are occasionally annoyed by NMUs. Ideally mass change drivers would do mass bug filings and let maintainers upload instead of resorting immediately to NMUs. The post-upload NMU bug report and diff will help ensure the fact that a NMU happened is discovered by maintainer, but reconciling packaging git contents to 100% match what was uploaded is still best to be done with command above. Packages that are actively maintained should in general never need a NMU. If packages are abandoned they should move to salsa.debian.org/debian namespace, as it would solve the access permissions and allow for some changes to be pushed to git. The Debian Janitor could perhaps be used both to sync NMUs back to git repos, and as a replacement for NMUs in some cases. Any repo that has Salsa CI passing and/or a gbp.conf is pretty easy to do a MR on, but doing mass-MRs is a complex topic that deserves a documentation of its own. Also, wider standardization in packaging workflows, and use of machine-readable gbp.conf and such is needed to make it easier to work via git. However there is, and will likely be, an inherent long-term conflict in the duality that uploads can happen irrespective of version control in git and use Debian repositories themselves for version control. Anyway, a mass-MR filing does not result automatically in an upload happening for every package, so some NMUs are likely to occur. Thus, knowing the easiest one-liner to reconcile git packaging repo is still the most important thing for DDs.
