apt-get source changes for packages maintained in VCS
Matt Zimmerman
mdz at ubuntu.com
Tue Aug 7 15:58:35 BST 2007
On Sat, Aug 04, 2007 at 05:46:17PM -0400, Scott Kitterman wrote:
> I recently filed https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/apt/+bug/129575 and
> after some IRC discussion we agreed that his recent apt-get source changes
> needed some broader discussion.
>
> As an example, I used apt-get source to download the source for pyspf (a
> package I help maintain in Debian) and get the following warning:
>
> WARNING: 'pyspf' is maintained in the 'Svn' version control system at:
> svn://svn.debian.org/python-modules/packages/pyspf/trunk/
> Are you sure you want to continue [yN]?
>
> In my opinion there are two things wrong here:
>
> First, pyspf is not maintained in the Debian Python Modules Team svn. The
> Debian packaging for it is maintained there. The actual Python module is
> maintained on Sourceforge, so as written, it is incorrect. Similarly, if I
> am considering an Ubuntu revision for a package, the Debian SVN is not the
> source for code that I'm patching, the Ubuntu source repository is.
>
> I can understand the desire to inform developers that there is a VCS (I think
> that's sensible), but it is at most tangential to many use cases.
>
> Which brings me to my second issue:
>
> Stopping and asking the user for confirmation is really overkill in this case.
> The purpose of apt-get source is to get source from a repository. The fact
> that there may be other versions accessible elsewhere may or may not be of
> interest to the user.
Even though I backed this idea originally, after using it for a while, I'm
inclined to agree with you. There are plenty of cases where it really ought
to just give me what I ask for, so it probably shouldn't demand
confirmation. A prominent message pointing to the repository should be
sufficient.
--
- mdz
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