[Bug 1758963] Re: Please don't ship empty directories in the source package

[Launchpad Bug Tracker]

This bug was fixed in the package update-manager - 1:16.04.13

---------------
update-manager (1:16.04.13) xenial; urgency=medium

  * Offer removal of unused autoremovable kernel packages
    (LP: #1624644, #1675079)
  * Support package removals in install backends and really remove packages
    (LP: #1624644, #1675079)
  * Keep PEP 8 checks happy
  * Place .keep files in empty directories to keep them when converting the
    repo to git (LP: #1758963)

 -- Balint Reczey <rbalint at ubuntu.com>  Sun, 25 Mar 2018 20:10:49 +0100

** Changed in: update-manager (Ubuntu Xenial)
       Status: Fix Committed => Fix Released

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1758963

Title:
  Please don't ship empty directories in the source package

Status in update-manager package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in update-manager source package in Xenial:
  Fix Released
Status in update-manager source package in Artful:
  Fix Released

Bug description:
  [Impact]

  Empty directories can't be stored in Git, which is a very popular
  version control system for maintaining source packages.

  Keeping the empty directory in the source package prevent others from
  easily contributing to the package by importing it in full to a local
  repository, making changes, then generating an updated source package
  with tools like git-buildpackage. In that workflow the empty directory
  would be lost potentially causing errors if the installed binary
  package relied on it or causing autopkgtest failures if tests used it.

  The backport to a stable release helps further maintenance of the
  package in git-based workflows and avoids accidentally breaking
  autopkgtests when the existence of the empty dirs matter.

  The upload may drop the empty dirs or place placeholder (e.g.:
  */.keep) files  in the source package.

  [Test Case]

  Extract the source package, then run the following command int the
  extracted source directory:

   find . -depth -type d -empty

  [Regression Potential]

  The removed directories or the added placeholders may cause run-time
  issues or cause autopkgtest failures. To prevent those please check
  that the placeholder files are not shipped in the binary packages and
  also run autokgtests.

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