Switching KDE packaging to git

Modestas Vainius modestas at vainius.eu
Sun Jul 11 12:53:33 UTC 2010


Hello,

so hereby I propose to switch our KDE packaging from svn to git on 
git://git.debian.org/git/pkg-kde/kde/$modulename.git. In other words, each 
official KDE module gets its own $module.git under 
git://git.debian.org/git/pkg-kde/kde/ with a script to clone/pull/etc. them 
all.

1) We would use the same workflow as for qt4-x11.git, i.e. no upstream branch. 
It proved to be fine, didn't it? Fathi, you worked most with qt4-x11.git, is 
there anything you would like to be changed?

2) upstream & pristine-tar branches are nice for small packages but from my 
experience:
   a) they are additional burden to manage even if `git import-orig` makes it 
kinda easy to import; but kde is 22 source packages so I don't think this will 
scale;
   b) things get complicated (though manageable with some patience) when there 
are a few packaging branches based on different upstream versions. It might be 
tricky to get merging right;
   c) upstream branches increase repository size considerably; given that kde 
has 22 source packages, clone of all repos will be huge;
   d) last but not least, when we decide we want upstream branches, we can 
always add them later without any cost.

3) Packaging will be imported to git with all history.

The main motivation for VCS change is upcoming situation. We will probably 
have to release with 4.4.5, but we will want to package KDE 4.5 as well. 
Merging in svn is impossible but we want to properly track changes which apply 
to both 4.4.5 <=> 4.5 packaging (we have lost changes in the past due to svn 
deficiencies).

Secondary motivation is that centralized svn is ageing while git is 
distributed, fast, has some nice features and is the most featureful DVCS at 
the moment.

Last but not least, KDE upstream is eventually switching to git.

-- 
Modestas Vainius <modestas at vainius.eu>
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