Re: NSLS-II Debian Repository in 2018

[Ralph Lange <ralph.lange@gmx.de>]

Hi Anton,

On Wed, Apr 25, 2018 at 10:01 PM Anton Derbenev <aaderbenev@gmail.com> wrote:

[...]

Any comments on the matter are welcome.

I have two comments on your proposed numbering.

1. While I don't see technical problems with your proposed scheme, it does not match the common numbering scheme used for regular Debian packages. (The former numbering scheme did.)

2. Debian uses a "+nmuX" number to tag a non-maintainer-upload (NMU), i.e. an upload initiated by someone not mentioned in the control file. This was probably appropriate for many of the native packages after their maintainer left BNL, but I don't think it was ever intended to be used as a general rule.

Please reconsider, as anyone familiar with Debian will find that quite confusing. Following the Debian standards, the "+debXuY" part already qualifies a version as an NMU, so adding another "+nmuX" looks nonsensical ("+debXuY" and "+nmuX" are exclusive).[1]

I think leaving out the "+nmuX" part for native packages would be just fine and make things more consistent.

Again, technically your scheme seems to be reasonable. (Assuming the suggestion under 2., it would make all packages appear as if they were security updates, i.e. release specific NMUs.) 

But, as it is a deviation from a commonly used standard, I would like to see a bit more justification.

Cheers,

~Ralph

[1] https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/developers-reference/pkgs.html#nmu