Ubuntu Wiki

Dev Week -- Working well with Debian -- nxvl and bddebian -- Mon, Jan 19

(02:02:31 PM) dholbach: next up is nxvl and bddebian!
(02:02:35 PM) creek23: holy! done already. i was just review ing the earlier messages because messages pops too fast :-(
(02:02:37 PM) dholbach: "Working Well With Debian!"
(02:02:38 PM) nxvl: :D
(02:02:49 PM) creek23: oh well. :P
(02:03:09 PM) dlynch: yes, thanks very much
(02:03:16 PM) mneptok: nxvl: is this a how-to on how to configure flame-mail filters and body armor? ;)
(02:03:26 PM) nxvl: mneptok: sort of :P
(02:03:33 PM) creek23: really?!?
(02:03:38 PM) nxvl: creek23: no
(02:03:57 PM) nxvl: well, lets start
(02:04:01 PM) nxvl: Debian is the base upon which Ubuntu is built
(02:04:08 PM) mode (+o nxvl ) by mneptok
(02:04:24 PM) nxvl: Almost all packages in Ubuntu come from Debian, and most are used unchanged
(02:04:37 PM) nxvl: This means that Ubuntu owes a lot to Debian
(02:04:47 PM) nxvl: and should endeavour to maintain a good relationship with them
(02:04:57 PM) nxvl: There are several differences in the way that Debian and Ubuntu are organised
(02:05:16 PM) nxvl: and in the decisions that they have made on some issues that you need to understand in order to work with them most effectively
(02:05:30 PM) nxvl: The biggest difference is that in Debian all packages have a maintainer
(02:05:51 PM) nxvl: which may be a team, who controls the package
(02:06:06 PM) nxvl: They generally make all the decisions about the package
(02:06:13 PM) nxvl: and are normally the only ones to perform uploads
(02:06:22 PM) nxvl: There are some moves away from this, but it remains the status quo
(02:06:37 PM) nxvl: This is different to Ubuntu where in general a package doesn't have a maintainer as such
(02:06:44 PM) nxvl: it is just looked after by all contributors
(02:06:56 PM) nxvl: This has effects on both Ubuntu and Debian
(02:07:13 PM) nxvl: For Ubuntu it means that generally a contributor isn't familiar with a package
(02:07:23 PM) nxvl: and doesn't know the Debian maintainer's opinion on things
(02:07:40 PM) nxvl: For Debian maintainers it means that they generally don't know who to contact if they wish to discuss a package in Ubuntu
(02:08:11 PM) nxvl: The differences in some policy differences can also make it difficult for a Ubuntu contributor to know whether what they are doing also applies to Debian as well
(02:08:22 PM) nxvl: This can be especially true for bugs
(02:08:36 PM) dholbach left the room (quit: "Ex-Chat").
(02:08:38 PM) nxvl: where differing versions of packages
(02:08:47 PM) nxvl: or different dependencies in the chain can hide or expose bugs
(02:09:01 PM) nxvl: It can be helpful to not consider Debian as a "whole"
(02:09:12 PM) nxvl: but more as a group of people who each work in their own little area
(02:09:34 PM) nxvl: You will find that if you contact most of them with a bug report, a patch, or a question they will be very friendly and helpful
(02:09:52 PM) rugby471 left the room (quit: Remote closed the connection).
(02:09:52 PM) nxvl: There are a few people that this wouldn't really apply to, but they are definitely in the minority
(02:10:10 PM) nxvl: You will probably find if you contact them in a friendly manner about a specific issue then they will probably still help you
(02:10:18 PM) nxvl: but it can be a scary thing to do
(02:10:39 PM) nxvl: What I am trying to tell you here is not to let the actions of a noisy few spoil your opinions of the whole community
(02:10:53 PM) nxvl: Ubuntu takes all source packages from Debian that aren't on a blacklist
(02:10:59 PM) nxvl: and automatically "syncs" them in to Ubuntu
(02:11:18 PM) nxvl: This means that the source package is taken unmodified and just rebuilt in the latest development version of Ubuntu
(02:11:41 PM) nxvl: There are certain things that may be done while building which mean that you may get different binary packages
(02:11:52 PM) nxvl: but they do not alter the functionality, for instance
(02:11:57 PM) nxvl: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebianMaintainerField
(02:12:17 PM) nxvl: This process stops at DebianImportFreeze
(02:12:31 PM) nxvl: In order to sync a package after that stage you must file a sync request
(02:12:33 PM) bddebian: Hey I thought it was at 4:00pm?
(02:12:43 PM) nxvl: following the process at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SyncRequestProcess
(02:13:02 PM) nxvl: bddebian: :D
(02:13:11 PM) nxvl: Where Ubuntu has to make changes to the package a new upload is done
(02:13:21 PM) ***bddebian checks his calendar
(02:13:37 PM) nxvl: This upload has a version number containing "ubuntu"
(02:13:52 PM) nxvl: which ensures that the package won't be synced without manual action
(02:14:00 PM) nxvl: so that the changes are not lost
...