Re: [PATCH v2] tools: Improve make deb

[George Dunlap <george.dunlap@eu.citrix.com>]

On 28/02/13 09:40, Stefan Bader wrote:
> On 27.02.2013 21:07, Ian Campbell wrote:
>> On Wed, 2013-02-27 at 20:00 +0000, Alex Bligh wrote:
>>> Bringing debian packaging upstream is (I believe) considered 'no bad
>>> thing'.
>> On the contrary, Debian discourages upstreams from including a debian/
>> directory in their releases.
>>
>> Ian.
>>
> I would agree with Ian here. I am sorry, I have not read anything of the
> previous discussion but if it is about having a simple way of getting a test
> package for deb (and rpm) based systems, the make target approach which is not
> using a debian directory sounds better. For testing you likely want just one
> package and that does not necessarily need any documentation. And if that was
> done in debian/ it would make the Debian maintainers job a pain because the
> whole packaging is based on the orig tarball not having that directory. (And
> FWIW Ubuntu derives from Debian, there are only changes if we really really have
> to).

Just to catch you up Stefan, the discussion isn't about having a simple 
way to get a test package.  We already have that target: "make deb" will 
create a .deb that when installed will have very similar effects to 
"make install" -- i.e., just copy a bunch of files into place.  The 
advantage of course being that the .deb keeps track of all the files 
which need to be *removed* as well, making it easier for developers.

What's being discussed is a more fully-featured .deb target.  The 
current output of "make deb" isn't really suitable for users -- it 
doesn't do anything with regard to setup, it doesn't test any 
dependencies, &c -- in other words, it doesn't do anything one normally 
expects from a mature package management system.

Generally speaking the Xen developers want to encourage users to use the 
packages available in their distro.  That's the best option for the 
majority of users.  However, there are "early-adopter" users who need to 
/ enjoy being on the bleeding edge -- meaning typically, on the very 
latest point release, as well as able and willing to test RCs before a 
release.  These users perform a very important role in the project, and 
so it is important (I think) to make it easy for them to download and 
install these versions.

Alex, what do you think about Ian's suggestion -- i.e., rather than 
integrate a full-featured .deb package into the Xen build system, 
intermittently use the Debian Xen target to create a set of .debs and 
make them available publicly somewhere?  If this was done once only for 
every new release, and then maybe once for each RC (or every other RC) 
before a release, it shouldn't be too much work I don't think.  I think 
we should probably be able to make space on the xen.org website 
somewhere to keep them.

Would that be useful for you, or do I misunderstand what it is you need?

(Also, I think that's what Ian was suggesting -- please correct me if 
I'm wrong, Ian!)

  -George