On Sun, Mar 04, 2001 at 08:34:25PM -1000, Brian Russo wrote: > On Mon, Mar 05, 2001 at 01:28:51AM -0500, Steve M. Robbins wrote: > > Hi, > > > > I'm maintaining a package (geomview) whose source is free, but parts > > of it require a non-free library (xforms) to compile. Currently, the > > debian source package builds a single package that omits the programs > > that require xforms. There is a wishlist bug requesting that a second > > package be created containing the extra bits. That seems like a > > reasonable request. How do I do it? > > last I checked the autobuilders didn't do anything but main, > so I don't think should be a problem, affirmation anyone?
My understanding of the statement "the autobuilders [don't] do anything but main" is that they only process source packages that generate .debs for the "main" distribution. What I am proposing is a source package that generates *both* a "main" and a "contrib" .deb. What would the autobuilder do with that? In fact, how would the autobuilder even know that is the case? The control file does not record whether a binary goes into main or contrib. [I presume that is decided by the ftp maintainers when a new package is introduced, and then recorded somewhere. Do the autobuilders use this information?] If I set up the "rules" to build both the main and contrib packages unconditionally, would the autobuilders selectively pick out and build only the main package? The Build-depends, in this case, would include a non-free package; wouldn't this cause extra work to override the dependency if the autobuilder is only doing main? -Steve
