How to handle Debian patches

[Goswin von Brederlow]

martin f krafft <madduck at debian.org> writes:

> Please Cc vcs-pkg-discuss at lists.alioth.debian.org on this thread!
>
> Including the full response for the list.
>
> also sprach Raphael Hertzog <hertzog at debian.org> [2008.05.16.1654 +0100]:
>> Add to this that each patch should have some standardized header on top
>> stating:
>> - a description of the patch and its purpose
>> - the associated bug number
>> - who wrote the patch
>> - where it has been forwarded upstream
>> - sign-off by reviewers maybe
>> 
>> Someone recently posted an example of this. IMO we should write a DEP
>> on patch management and standardize those headers. And probably enforce
>> their usage for patches on sensitive packages (lintian checks?).

It would be nice if dpkg-source would automatically create a header
template if missing and fork an editor whenever it changes a
patch. Maybe add a comment section with a diffstat of the last changes
that will be removed when exiting the editor for quick reference while
describing the change.

MfG
        Goswin