Using tags to describe distribution patches, call for comments

[Matt Zimmerman]

On Mon, Nov 19, 2007 at 03:22:11PM +0100, Sebastien Bacher wrote:
> The desktop team will start using tags in the distribution patches to
> describe what they are doing, the corresponding upstream and ubuntu
> bugs, etc.
> 
> This mails is a call for comments, the idea is not desktop specific and
> could be used in other Ubuntu packages. 
> 
> 
> A first list of suggested tags to use:
> 
> * Ubuntu: launchpad_uri
> 
> The corresponding Ubuntu bug number
> 
> * Upstream: upstream_uri
> 
> The corresponding Upstream bug number
> 
> * Debian: debianbts_uri
> 
> The corresponding Debian bug number. Debian is a special upstream and
> that would allow to use the same tag directly in the Debian package

You mean "bug URL" instead of  "bug number", right? (as indicated by _uri)

> * Description: description
> 
> The description of the change
> 
> * UbuntuSpecic: yes
> * Rational: why the change is specific to ubuntu

If the rationale applies only to the UbuntuSpecific field, and not to the
patch itself, then it should either be named accordingly or merged into
UbuntuSpecific, so as not to be confusing.

> To use when a change is specific to Ubuntu and should not be sent
> upstream. The rational would explain why the change doesn't need to go
> upstream, for example if that's a distribution customization choice.

There are probably some very common cases here which could have standard
abbreviations.

e.g.

UbuntuSpecific: yes (branding)
UbuntuSpecific: yes (policy)

as an idea.

> What do you think about those? Do we also need a tag indicating if the
> patch comes from Debian or Ubuntu? That would makes easier to know what
> we need to send upstream and how many Ubuntu specific changes are there

I think this is an excellent idea.

-- 
 - mdz