Styles of Packaging (was: Deprecating the wiki-based Packaging Guide)

[Scott Kitterman]

Steve Langasek <steve.langasek at ubuntu.com> wrote:

>On Tue, Dec 18, 2012 at 09:19:31PM -0500, Scott Kitterman wrote:
>> Steve Langasek <steve.langasek at ubuntu.com> wrote:
>
>> >On Tue, Dec 18, 2012 at 02:08:04AM -0500, Scott Kitterman wrote:
>
>> >> 1.  While there are sponsors that prefer branches over
>debdiffs/source
>> >> packages uploaded somewhere, I don't know of any that will only
>sponsor
>> >> branches.  The reverse is not true.  There are developers that
>don't do
>> >> UDD sponsoring.  By pursuing this path, new packagers limit the
>> >> potential candidates to sponsor packages.
>
>> >If there is a consensus that new packagers should be using UDD, we
>> >shouldn't let that consensus be held hostage by dissenters that
>refuse to
>> >use UDD.
>> >
>> >But as per my previous message, I agree that UDD reliability here is
>a
>> >major problem, and no one is well served by developer documentation
>> >describing a non-existent utopia instead of the way things actually
>are.
>
>> I don't think such a consensus, outside of the small group of people
>that
>> invested time in the packaging guide, exists.
>
>There may or may not be such a consensus.  But the consensus is what
>matters, and the above argument is therefore irrelevant to whether UDD
>should be the recommended workflow.

I agree it's the consensus that matters.  When then current packaging guide materials were developed, there was, I believe a strong expectation that UDD's reliability issues would be worked out in the short term and that UDD would clearly be the better way for most developers (I didn't sit through every single UDD session for multiple UDSs because I thought I wouldn't use it).  In the meantime, UDD development has essentially stalled.

I think we are in a halfway state where UDD is mature enough to be useful for some, but not for others.  To make progress, someone needs to invest resources.  IIRC, there was not a single UDD session at the last UDS.

Scott K