[Debichem-devel] ITP: xcrysden -- visualization tool for crystalline structures

[Michael Banck]

Hi Tone,

On Mon, Feb 20, 2012 at 09:30:47PM +0100, Tone Kokalj wrote:
> I am Anton Kokalj, the author of xcrysden package
> (http://www.xcrysden.org), and I am also a Debian user. 
> 
> I have debianized the xcrysden package. I also noticed that there was an
> RFP several years ago for xcrysden.

Great! I filed an ITP a while ago, but haven't really started packaging
xcrysden yet, so we can just use your package.

I recently introduced a debichem-crystallography task where xcrysden
would fit right in.
 
> However, I do not know how to proceed (i.e., what steps to take to get
> xcrysden package officially available in Debian) because there is too
> much info @ Debian and I am confused what are the proper steps. Some
> guidelines would be most welcome.

The easiest way to have it in Debian is to get it sponsored by a Debian
Developer, I can happily do that for you.

In order to make future uploads by yourself, you can now or later apply
as a Debian Maintainer.  Then you can upload new versions of your
package, as long as no new binary packages are added (in which case
another sponsored upload would be required).

I am fine with just uploading/sponsoring new packages for a while, just
ping me on this list.

Also, I would like to invite you to join the Debichem team.  For this,
you need to create a guest account (there are no further requirements
for this) on http://alioth.debian.org and request to be added to the
debichem team.  Then you can import your packaging as subversion or git
(most packages are in subversion still these days) and update them
there.

> I have put the debianized xcrysden package at:
> 
> http://www.xcrysden.org/download/debian/
> 
> where you may inspect what I did (there are two packages: xcrysden &
> xcrysden-data).

I had a quick looks and it looks pretty perfect.

If you want to maintain it as part of Debichem you should change the
Maintainer to "Debichem Team <debichem-devel at lists.alioth.debian.org>"
and Uploaders to yourself, and, for practical purposes, myself (Michael
Banck <mbanck at debian.org>), as well as adding the "DM-Upload-Allowed:
yes" field.

I will take a closer look in the next days, but do not expect any major
issues.


Welcome,

Michael