[Debian-med-packaging] samtools i386-buildable

[Charles Plessy]

Hi Andreas,

I am not completely surprised to read your email :)

Le Wed, Sep 16, 2015 at 11:56:32AM +0200, Andreas Tille a écrit :
> 
> If upstream decides to rewrite a script xyz.pl in Python and will name
> it to xyz.py users scripts will be broken as well.

In 10 years I never saw this happen.

> To save our users
> from this section 10.4 of the Debian policy was written.  You can not
> save users from all bad things that might happen and thus I try to
> follow sensible arguments.  These were frequently given and since the
> discussion comes up frequently I now assembled a section on the Upstream
> Guide wiki page:
> 
>    https://wiki.debian.org/UpstreamGuide#Language_extensions_in_scripts

Thanks, this is where it belongs.  But when upstreams beg to disagree with our
dogma, I think that we should not escalate by making Debian incompatible with
other platforms.

> BTW, since the creation of /usr/lib/debian-med/bin we could consider to
> keep the scripts including the extension there.  I'm not convinced that
> this a good idea - just mentioning it as a possible compromise.

I would rather keep this directory for pure namespace conflicts.

By the way, I just read about https://packages.debian.org/sid/environment-modules
on Biostars.  Maybe it is something to investigate...

> >  - about files that make consecutive rebuilds difficult: these come from the
> >    fact that, like for htslib, the source package's Git repository tracks the
> >    upstream Git repository in GitHub (I will document this).  Between two
> >    builds I simply reset the directory with 'git checkout' and 'git clean'.
> >    Would it be OK to keep these files in order to avoid potential merge
> >    failures from the master branch ?
> 
> IMHO using Git should be no excuse to break good packaging practice to
> be able building packages twice in a row.

I would say the reverse: Git provides us great tools to reset a working
directory, and it is a waste to not use them.  10 years ago, it could have been
reasonable to say things like "I am a darcs|bzr|mercurial|whatever user, Git
has no future, I will not spend my time learning it", but as of today anybody
who want to do serious Debian development needs to know Git.

Our packages are writable for all Debian developers; in return I think that we
should be a bit more firm about asking people to make their changes in the Git
repositories, and avoid working in the raw source packages, which are merely a
vehicule to send the source to the autobuilders.  

Have a nice day,

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