Packaging Guide -- unclear instructions on page "Packaging from Scratch"
| Affects | Status | Importance | Assigned to | Milestone | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu Documentation |
Invalid
|
Undecided
|
LaserJock | ||
Bug Description
In the very helpful "Packaging Guide", maintained by Jordan Mantha according to its credits section, the step-by-step instructions for how to download and modify a package become unclear at one point.
After the text
"If you manually download the source package (.dsc, .orig.tar.gz, and .diff.gz files), you can unpack them in the same way apt-get source does by using dpkg-source as follows:"
it is not clear whether additional instructions concerning making a copy of the original tarball are to be followed in all cases, or only if using dpkg-source instead of apt-get.
While following the example myself, it appears that the "orig" version of the tarball already exists, or was automatically created by the example apt-get command. I am not sure whether the described step was already performed for me, or whether I am misinterpreting the instructions.
I would recommend reformatting this section to make the process flow more clear, perhaps adding an "obtaining and prepping the package" header with two subsections ("using manual download and dpkg-source" and "using apt-get").
Also, the meaning of the warning note "The underscore, '_', between the package name (hello) and the version (2.1.1), as opposed to a hyphen, '-', is very important. Your source package will incorrectly be built as a Debian native package." is unclear. Which is the error that will cause it to be built as a native package?
| FactTech (launchpad-facttechnologies) wrote | #1 |
| FactTech (launchpad-facttechnologies) wrote | #2 |
| Changed in ubuntu-doc: | |
| assignee: | nobody → laserjock |
| status: | Unconfirmed → Confirmed |
| Rich Johnson (nixternal) wrote | #3 |
| Changed in ubuntu-doc: | |
| status: | Confirmed → Invalid |
After further study, it becomes clear that I just misunderstood the intent of the instructions. I did not realize that the exercise was intentionally creating three separate versions of the source:
1) The downloaded tarball from the original source
2) A copy of the original tarball
3) A copy of the existing Ubuntu package for reference
Perhaps some introductory text explaining the overall process and the purpose of each copy (#1 = code we want to package, #2 = copy of original code so that we can create a diff, #3 = copy of existing package [which does not necessarily exist for new packages being created!]) would help make this more clear to first-time readers.