Introductory mail

[Manoj Srivastava]

On Tue, Sep 30 2008, Aidan Van Dyk wrote:

> * Manoj Srivastava <srivasta at acm.org> [080930 21:15]:
>> On Tue, Sep 30 2008, Stéphane Glondu wrote:
>          Only if you like working with patch series, and prefer to lose
>>  all the information that the original VCS contained. I prefer to see
>>  the whole history, not just a snapshot, when I am joining a development
>>  effort. 

> I keep seeing these references to "development".  Why is development
> happening in the disto-specific packaging?  If your "Developping",
> shouldn't that all be in collaboration with upstream, and hence using
> the upstream VCS, whatever-that-may-be-please-let-it-be-git...

        Not really. All my upstream like to have a single topic patches
 series rebased to their latest release --  and very few of them are
 using modern VCS's yet. So, yes, it is fed back upstream, but not
 directly into the upstream VCS where I have no commit rights anyway. 

        The patches are submitted by whatever mechanism  the upstream
 wants them to be submitted.

> I understand the need to have differences/patches to packages for
> distro-specific reasons, and back-porting fixes of stuff upstream has
> already fixed but that debian's not allows to use because of the strict
> version-non-changing requirements... But why is "Development" happening
> locally in the debian packages and not upstream?

        Because I develop features locally, and feed them upstream as
 and when it is stable enough to go up.  Debian users get first crack at
 new features and bug fixes that I have in the works.  I try to 

        Especially bug fixes. I open a branch, fix the bug, and then
 feed it upstream after testing.  Between the time it enters the
 upstream branch, it lives in my local tree.

> Or am I mis-understanding the connotations of "development" in this
> context?

        Nope. So, why am I doing development? Well, that is related to
 why I work on Debian.  I do not package things because it is my day
 job, or to get recognition, not because of (gag) altruism. I package
 things I use, and need. Since I am passionate about these pieces of
 software, I have strong opinions -- and strng itches I want to
 scratch. Hence,  features, And bug fixes. Thus, development.

        manoj
-- 
To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk. Thomas Edison
Manoj Srivastava <srivasta at acm.org> <http://www.golden-gryphon.com/>  
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