Bug#961294: Allow derivatives to define parent project fields

[Russ Allbery]

Simon Quigley  writes:

> I recently had a discussion in a Lintian merge request[1] where I
> submitted code solidifying existing behavior in the Ubuntu Desktop and
> Lubuntu teams. As I stated there, it is common practice in those teams
> (and I am sure it exists in others as well) to specify a
> `XS-Debian-Vcs-Browser` and/or `XS-Debian-Vcs-Git` field to point to
> Salsa.

> The rationale for this is to allow packaging changes to flow back
> upstream to Debian when Ubuntu's packaging repository is in a different
> location (when Ubuntu has a permanent downstream delta but continues to
> rebase that delta on top of Debian's changes).

> I would like to solidify this existing practice by modifying Debian
> Policy, amending 5.6.26 to allow usage of -Vcs-Browser and
> -Vcs-.

I'm not sure I understand why you want to make this change to Debian
Policy.  Isn't this a matter for Ubuntu policy?  The new fields wouldn't
be in the package in Debian (because they wouldn't be meaningful there).

> I would also like to use this as an opportunity to deprecate
> `Original-Maintainer` in favor of `Debian-Maintainer` and allow for
> `Debian-Uploaders` as well.

Similarly this seems to be entirely a question for Ubuntu (and Lintian, of
course).

-- 
Russ Allbery (r...@debian.org)  

Bug#961294: Allow derivatives to define parent project fields

[Simon Quigley]

Package: debian-policy
Version: 4.5.0.2
Severity: normal

Hello,

I recently had a discussion in a Lintian merge request[1] where I
submitted code solidifying existing behavior in the Ubuntu Desktop and
Lubuntu teams. As I stated there, it is common practice in those teams
(and I am sure it exists in others as well) to specify a
`XS-Debian-Vcs-Browser` and/or `XS-Debian-Vcs-Git` field to point to Salsa.

The rationale for this is to allow packaging changes to flow back
upstream to Debian when Ubuntu's packaging repository is in a different
location (when Ubuntu has a permanent downstream delta but continues to
rebase that delta on top of Debian's changes).

I would like to solidify this existing practice by modifying Debian
Policy, amending 5.6.26 to allow usage of -Vcs-Browser and
-Vcs-. This would make it easier for derivatives to
clearly specify where packaging changes should be submitted upstream. In
dpkg, this can be enforced by recursively running `dpkg-vendor --query
Parent` and ensuring that  matches one of those, or in Lintian
by emitting an error if that is not the case.

I would also like to use this as an opportunity to deprecate
`Original-Maintainer` in favor of `Debian-Maintainer` and allow for
`Debian-Uploaders` as well.

Thoughts?

[1] https://salsa.debian.org/lintian/lintian/-/merge_requests/310

-- 
Simon Quigley
tsimo...@debian.org
tsimonq2 on freenode and OFTC
5C7A BEA2 0F86 3045 9CC8
C8B5 E27F 2CF8 458C 2FA4



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