[pkg-go] Minutes for the DebConf17 BoF

[Martín Ferrari]

So, my turn to describe workflows.

I use gbp, pristine-tar, cowbuilder (but planning to move to sbuild),
dch, debcommit as my main tools. I have not really used dh-make-golang much.

My global gbp configuration is as follows:

[DEFAULT]
pristine-tar = True
sign-tags = True

[buildpackage]
export = WC
postbuild = lintian $GBP_CHANGES_FILE && debsign $GBP_CHANGES_FILE
export-dir = ../build-area/
tarball-dir = ../tarballs/
ignore-new = True
pbuilder = True

[import-orig]
postimport = dch -v%(version)s New upstream release.


In general, I try to keep existing structures in git, but for packages I
prepare, I use DEP14 branches and tags:

 * HEAD is debian/sid, other dists are debian/<dist>.
 * upstream/<version> tag for unpacked upstream source.
 * debian/<version> tag for uploaded packages.
 * I keep an "upstream" branch for unpackaged upstream sources, which is
tagged and then merged into the main packaging branch.

Depending on upstream having releases or not, I either use gbp
import-orig --uscan, or follow git history with an "upstream" remote. In
both cases, the sources end in a git branch.

For repackaging, I either use "excluded-files" in debian/changelog for
released projects, or create a second upstream branch "repackaged",
"unvendored", or somesuch, where I make changes and merge from
"upstream" after every import.

For the go ecosystem, I am feeling it is much more useful and productive
to keep complete upstream history than using the releases, and for some
packages with releases I started using this. It pays off every time I
need to troubleshoot api changes, backport fixes, and the such..

When I am doing this, I add this gbp.conf snippet in the debian/ directory:

[buildpackage]
dist = DEP14
upstream-tag = upstream/%(version)s
pristine-tar = True
pristine-tar-commit = True

For simplifying pushes, I also add this config:

$ git config --add remote.debian.push 'refs/heads/debian/*'
$ git config --add remote.debian.push 'refs/heads/upstream'
$ git config --add remote.debian.push 'refs/heads/pristine-tar'
$ git config --add remote.debian.push 'refs/tags/debian/*'
$ git config --add remote.debian.push 'refs/tags/upstream/*'
$ git config --add remote.debian.fetch 'refs/tags/*:refs/tags/*'


My preference for debian/changelog is:
 * distribution=UNRELEASED until the package is ready to upload.
 * I use dch for every change, and debcommit to commit with that same
message.
 * dch -r when package is ready for upload (changes dist).
 * debcommit -r after uploading (creates signed tag).


My workflow with upstream history is as this:

1. Init

(on alioth)

$ /git/pkg-go/setup-repository foo
$ git --git-dir=/git/pkg-go/packages/... symbolic-ref HEAD
refs/heads/debian/sid

(locally)
$ git remote add upstream https://...
$ git remote add debian ssh://git.debian.org/git/pkg-go/packages/...
$ git fetch --all
$ git checkout -b upstream upstream/master # or upstream tag
$ git tag upstream/0.0+gitYYYYMMDD.NNNNNNN
# optional, if repackaging is needed.
$ git ckeckout -b repackaged
$ git rm -rf vendor/; git commit -m repackage
$ git tag upstream/0.0+gitYYYYMMDD.NNNNNNN-ds
$ git checkout -b debian/sid
# create debian/* stuff, with dh-make-golang, or (usually) copy from
another package :-). Add gbp.conf snippet, git config, etc

2. Update

$ git fetch --all
$ git checkout debian/sid
$ git tag upstream/0.0+gitYYYYMMDD.NNNNNNN NNNNNNN
$ git merge upstream/0.0+gitYYYYMMDD.NNNNNNN
$ dch -v 0.0+gitYYYYMMDD.NNNNNNN-1 'New upstream snapshot.'
$ git add debian/changelog; debcommit
$ gbp buildpackage  # This also creates the pristine tar from the tag.

3. Work on the package

# Fix stuff
$ dch 'debian/foo: fix bar'; debcommit -a

# When finished
$ dch -r
$ git add debian/changelog; debcommit
$ gbp buildpackage

$ dput <changes file>
$ debcommit -r
$ git push debian


For backports is all the same, except that instead of using debian/sid,
I fork a debian/stretch-backports and work from there.