I just took a few minutes to write up my preferred Debian packaging practices.
The basic gist is that i like to use git-buildpackage (gbp) with the
upstream source included in the repo, both as tarballs (with
pristine-tar branches) and including upstream's native VCS history
(Joey's arguments about syncing with upstream
git are worth
reading if you're not already convinced this is a good idea).
I also started using gbp-pq recently -- the patch-queue feature is
really useful for at least three things:
- rebasing your
debian/patches/files when a new version comes out upstream -- you can use all your normal git rebase habits! and - facilitating sending patches upstream, hopefully reducing the divergence, and
- cherry-picking new as-yet-unreleased upstream bugfix patches into a debian release.
My preferred packaging practices document is a work in progress. I'd love to improve it. If you have suggestions, please let me know.
Also, if you've written up your own preferred packaging practices, send me a link! I'm hoping to share and learn tips and tricks around this kind of workflow at debconf 15 this year.
Tags: git, git-buildpackage, packaging