[Soc-coordination] GSoC 2011 project APT/dpkg declarative diversions

[Steve Langasek]

Hi, Rahul!

On Mon, Mar 21, 2011 at 06:13:50PM +0530, Rahul Gaur wrote:
>  I am pursuing bachelors in engineering and my majors is in Computer
> Science.I am planning to apply for GSOC 2011 would like to work with Debian
> over my summer vacations.
> I've been using open source operating system since last 2 years and ever
> since I went open-source there was no turning back .
> I've learned C++ and java @ school .Now here in college i'm studying C and
> Python(linux platform),getting a good grip of it and I'm
> really fascinated by the python language as well as C is evergreen language.

> Familiar with building softwares from the source code, using svn now here
>  I'm seeking some guidance so that I can start contributing to the
> OpenSource community.By the time with GSoC starts , I would be done with my
> university exams and so I am interested in doing some C or Python based
> project during my summer vacations.
> Well among the several intriguing projects listed on the ideas page of GsoC
> 2011 , as  I  would like to get more informations about APT/dpkg declarative
> diversions...

I'm happy that you're interested in the declarative diversions proposal.  I
think the proposal itself is self-explanatory about what we hope to achieve,
but if you have any doubts, please ask.

Here is some further information to help orient you:

The dpkg source code can be found at git://git.debian.org/git/dpkg/dpkg.git. 
Use of git for patch submission to dpkg is strongly recommended (in
particular because it's a dynamic code base, so if you try to write patches
against a released version of dpkg you may find they're out of date before
you begin).

The dpkg code base is a mixture of C and perl.  The parts of dpkg relevant
to this proposal are written entirely in C.  I believe src/divertdb.c and
src/processarc.c contain the majority of the code that will need to be
modified for declarative diversions.

Useful background reading includes appendices E-G of Debian Policy
(http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ap-pkg-conffiles.html ff.); as well
as doc/triggers.txt within the dpkg source tree, as an example of the level
of detail of design documentation we want for a new dpkg feature.

An understanding of maintainer script invocation is also important.  There's
a section in Debian Policy on that, and also this useful diagram:

  http://wiki.debian.org/MaintainerScripts

I trust that you're familiar with the Google SoC application process (and
that this is how you found your way to us).  In addition to submitting an
application directly to Google, the Debian GSoC admins tell me it's
recommended that you also post information to the Debian wiki, using the
template at http://wiki.debian.org/SummerOfCode/StudentApplicationTemplate
and link this from
<http://wiki.debian.org/SummerOfCode2011/DeclarativeDiversions>.

Please feel free to join the dpkg development discussions on the mailing
list (debian-dpkg at lists.debian.org) and the IRC channel (#debian-dpkg on
irc.oftc.net).

Good luck with your application!

-- 
Steve Langasek                   Give me a lever long enough and a Free OS
Debian Developer                   to set it on, and I can move the world.
Ubuntu Developer                                    http://www.debian.org/
slangasek at ubuntu.com                                     vorlon at debian.org
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