Hi Gioele,
On Mon, Feb 16, 2026 at 03:29:23PM +0100, Gioele Barabucci wrote:
I have something to add, just an aside, that may influence how you
look at the results of your experiment.
Sadly, just running git log on debian/latest (which is probably the
single most important branch) only shows merge commits now.
gbp import-orig nicely took care of the differences between upstream
git and the release tarball.
`gbp import-orig` produces suboptimal merges that mix upstream and
Debian changes in an unreadable way <https://bugs.debian.org/804722>.
Could you please try to locally apply the patch proposed in that bug
report and see if produces a graph that looks (slightly) more
understandable and more sustainable in the long run?
(Assuming all your work was done via a script.)
No, it was not fully automated. It was still a couple of hours of manual
work.
I am not sure why the patch from that bug report will make the graph
easier to read as it doesn't reduce the number of merges. If I
understand correctly, the patch will do the merge and then add the
Debian diff in a dedicated commit. Won't this introduce a stage of
non-buildability in debian/latest, when the new upstream is already
merged and the debian stuff not yet added? I mean, especially in the
case of 3.0 (quilt) package?
That being said, this bug report is a classic case of many months being
lost because both sides were waiting for the other side to do something.
Guido was waiting for you to deliver a patch that would fit better into
git-buildpackage's code base, and you were waiting for him to comment
on your suggestion.
Neither am I. I am still glad I did that since I am not so sure any
more whether keeping upstrem history in Debian git while trying to
build a connection between the two will scale over decades, or
whether it will just make our repositories incomprehensible as the
years pass.
What I know is that it simplifies _now_ using patches from upstream in
Debian and extracting Debian patches for submission upstream.
Yes. I agree with that. One would rarely scroll back as far in history.
That also makes a case for not going back to the roots but maybe to a
point in time that was like two years ago, and only rebuild history
starting from that point. I might try that again with aide.
Once again, thank you for your experiment and for taking the time to
write a detailed report about it!
You're welcome. I would love to have the results of my experiments flow
into a document outlining best practises not only for new packages.
Greetings
Marc
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