Deprecating the wiki-based Packaging Guide

[Steve Langasek]

On Tue, Dec 18, 2012 at 09:09:39PM -0500, Scott Kitterman wrote:

> I find the interfaces to the UDD tools very confusing. Here's but one
> example (yes, I filed a bug, no I don't recall the number):
> 
> The basic dpkg-buildpackage command to build a source package that will
> include the upstream tarball in the upload is:
> 
> dpkg-buildpackage -S -sa
> 
> For the non-UDD dpkg-buildpackage wrapper debuild, one attaches
> dpkg-buildpackage options on the end and they are passed to
> dpkg-buildpackage:
> 
> debuild -S -sa
> 
> bzr-builddeb has this interface:
> 
> bzr-builddeb -S -- -sa

'bzr bd -- -S -sa' works equally well, and could be the usage recommended in
the documentation for consistency.

> The biggest benefit of UDD, IMO is that each upload is imported into a VCS
> so we have per upload history.  That happens no matter how the package is
> built or uploaded.  All the additional complexity of committing to the VCS
> and getting that merged has very minimal benefits for the average
> developer.

One concrete example where UDD shines and the non-UDD workflow is inadequate
is for sponsoring of package merges.  If someone hands me a branch that
properly merges the new Debian version into the Ubuntu branch, I can review
that with the standard bzr diff tools and ascertain that the sponsoree has
done the merge correctly.  If someone hands me a debdiff for a Debian merge,
that's useless; I effectively have to do the merge myself as part of the
review, and no time is saved.

-- 
Steve Langasek                   Give me a lever long enough and a Free OS
Debian Developer                   to set it on, and I can move the world.
Ubuntu Developer                                    http://www.debian.org/
slangasek at ubuntu.com                                     vorlon at debian.org
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