[Debian-med-packaging] symbols file for staden-io-lib

[Charles Plessy]

Le Mon, Jul 27, 2015 at 01:30:16PM +0200, Andreas Tille a écrit :
> 
> I tried to upgrade staden-io-lib and it again needs a change of the
> symbols file.  You know I consider keeping symbols files up to date as
> an unneeded burden.  If you find the time to update it feel free to do
> so and update or ping me to upload without symbols file.

Hi Andreas,

symbols file are an important component of C library packages, that eases
transitions to testing and partial upgrades (like installing a testing package
on stable).

The workflow is unpleasant: build the pacakge, look at the failed log,
cut-and-paste to apply the patch outputted by dpkg-gensymbols, and then edit
(sed) to remove the debian revision number.  Then, rebuild the package.

See the manual page of dpkg-gensymbols for more details, and anybody please
let me know if there is an easier workflow.

I agree that for a library that is used by only two other packages, the
benefits do not outweight the pain.  On my side, the reason I keep it is to
prevent myself from forgetting how it works...

So what about the following deal: we remove it in staden-io-lib, but
we keep it in htslib, which is one of the most professionally maintained
C libraries that we package, and which I hope will be used increasingly
by other packages (not just as a convenience copy as we see here and there).

Have a nice day,

-- 
Charles Plessy
Debian Med packaging team,
http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-med
Tsurumi, Kanagawa, Japan