Debian Perl Group Policy
Project Internal Policy
This document describes how we do stuff internally. It is of course work in progress and probably always will be.
We are using a subversion repository to keep the packages under revision control. Details of working with this repository are outside the scope of this document; it is recommended that you read the Debian Perl Group Subversion Guide (http://pkg-perl.alioth.debian.org/subversion.html).
All members of our group should be subscribed to debian-perl@lists.debian.org and read this list (at least skim all messages for Debian Perl Group related stuff). Additionally, every member should be subscribed to pkg-perl-maintainers@lists.alioth.debian.org to receive bug reports and similar information.
All members are encouraged to have all our packages installed. They are also encouraged to check our webspace (http://alioth.debian.org/projects/pkg-perl), and our svn repository (http://svn.debian.org/wsvn/pkg-perl/). You can watch the work on our svn repository subscribing to our svn commits list (http://alioth.debian.org/mail/), listed there as pkg-perl-cvs-commits. The commit messages are also sent to #debian-perl at irc.debian.org.
We use the debian revision to count our releases to the debian archive, not internal steps. So if and only if you do the first change after a release, you add another debian/changelog entry (dch -i). Note that the name and email address in the debian/changelog entry (i.e. after --) should be present in Uploaders: in debian/control (otherwise lintian will think that you are doing an NMU).
If you change something that has to be noted in debian/changelog, just add a line to the current entry (dch -a). The [firstname lastname] markers added by dch are okay to give credit to non-upload-permitted contributors (also for the initial changelog entry).
Important NOTES to other group members may be placed at the top of the current changelog entry of packages that are not yet ready for upload (e.g. why a package is still UNRELEASED etc.).
When importing a package into the SVN repository for the first time change the Maintainer field to ``Debian Perl Group <pkg-perl-maintainers@lists.alioth.debian.org>'' and put your own email address and name in the Uploaders field to show that you feel responsible for the package.
When you make a significant modification to a package in the repository, add your name to the Uploaders field. You should keep the names of other contributors who added their names before you.
The packages maintained by the group should contain the following fields:
Perl packages should be uploaded to the perl section.
Most Perl packages should be of priority optional.
All group-maintained packages should list ``Debian Perl Group <pkg-perl-maintainers@lists.alioth.debian.org>'' as the maintainer.
Contains the list of contributors to the specific package, i.e. persons interested in co-maintaining it in the future.
An URL pointing to the package's base location in our repository. That is, for a package called libsomething-perl, svn://svn.debian.org/pkg-perl/trunk/libsomething-perl/.
An URL pointing to the public Web interface where this package's base location in the repository can be browsed. For libsomething-perl, it would be http://svn.debian.org/wsvn/pkg-perl/trunk/libsomething-perl/.
The URL for this module's upstream homepage. For CPAN modules, unless the author has a specific homepage, you can point to http://search.cpan.org/dist/Something/.
The other usual fields should, of course, be present and have sensible values. In particular, try to stick to the highest published Standards-Version and debhelper compatibility level.
The pkg-perl group members prefer to directly use debhelper when packaging. We suggest you don't use cdbs as part of the build process for packages intended to be group-maintained.
Each package should have a watch file (debian/watch) to make manual and automatic checking for new upstream versions easier. The recommended format for a watch file for a typical module libfoo-bar-perl hosted on CPAN is:
version=3 # URL to the package page followed by a regex to search http://search.cpan.org/dist/Foo-Bar/ .*/Foo-Bar-v?(\d[\d_.]+)\.(?:tar(?:\.gz|\.bz2)?|tgz|zip)
(Scanning the distribution-based CPAN URLs is usually much faster than scanning /(by-)module/ ones; author-based URLs become invalid as soon as there's a change in maintainership.)
The Debian project has adopted the Debian Maintainers (DM) concept (cf. http://www.debian.org/vote/2007/vote_003) in Summer 2007. The pkg-perl group doesn't see this approach fit for its workflow and its use is discouraged.
If you are a DD, upload but be prepared to receive (at least part of) the blame. If you are not, some DD in the Group will surely sponsor the package. They will check the package first, too, but make sure there is no reason to complain. If you have a package ready for upload, just ask at debian-perl@lists.debian.org or in the channel #debian-perl at irc.debian.org
Always feel free to ask others to check a package if in doubt.
$Id: policy.pod 16099 2008-03-01 21:52:36Z gregoa-guest $
Copyright (c) 2004-2008 Debian Perl Group. All rights reserved. This document is free software; you may redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself
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