Should PPAs be forced to specify a ~ppa1 or similar in the package version?

[Dustin Kirkland]

On Sat, Apr 2, 2011 at 9:44 AM, Clint Byrum <clint at ubuntu.com> wrote:
> Excerpts from Scott Ritchie's message of Sat Apr 02 06:56:04 -0700 2011:
>> This has long been "good practice" for a variety of reasons
>>
>> 1) Independent PPA packages of new upstream versions can be
>> automatically replaced when a proper distro update occurs.
>> 2) If the PPA package itself gets promoted to the archive, it can be
>> replaced by just dropping the ~ppa
>> 3) It makes the version string more meaningful, as it prevents the
>> possibility of an official and PPA package having the same version
>> 4) If you are branching foo-0ubuntu1 and need multiple iterations you
>> now have a proper number to increment without implying you've rebased
>> off foo-0ubuntu2.
>>
>> Making such a change would have other value:
>>
>> 1) It makes it much easier to detect nonstandard packages on a system.
>> This can be done with automated tools too without fear of false
>> positives (in bug reports, with apport, with update manager, etc)
>> 2) If all PPA packages were so branded, it would be much easier to
>> implement a "remove all PPA packages" type of feature.
>
> Session or no, +1 from me. I have forgotten the ~ppaX a few times and
> then been confused when the package doesn't update. I don't thin its
> all that critical, but it would definitely prevent mistakes.
>
> If there is push back for some reason, it might make sense to have it
> turned on by default but provide a checkbox to disable it.

+1 to all what Clint said.

I have also found myself training new Ubuntu packagers from time to
time, and advising them on how to use PPAs, insisting that they use
~ppa1 or such on their packages, for all the reasons above.
Occasionally they'll get advice from someone else who has a similar
but slightly different scheme, perhaps the ~lucid1 model (which makes
a lot of sense, too).

So some standards here would be phenomenal.  And if it's enforced by
the archive, with a really useful/helpful source package rejection
message would be awesome!

-- 
:-Dustin

Dustin Kirkland
Ubuntu Core Developer