Re: [Xen-devel] Xen4.2 debian packaging

[Alex Bligh <alex@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

--On 25 February 2013 13:12:48 +0000 Tim Deegan <tim@xxxxxxx> wrote:

> Hrmn.  AFAICT what's really wanted here is a set of Xen 4.2 packages for
> Debian/Ubuntu.  That would be much more widely useful, for a similar
> amount of effort.
When I first did this, there were no Xen4.2 packages. Now both Ubuntu
raring and Debian Experimental have them.

However, that isn't the end of the story. If you want a lightweight
deb that doesn't take 39 years to build and is integrated into the
build system (because you are a developer), the minideb thing is
far easier (as it's just an extra make step), than debuild -us -uc -b,
dealing with all the debian/ubuntu patches that get applied to the
source, etc. etc.

The other point is that debian/ubuntu are ALWAYS going to be behind
unstable, so if you want an unstable set of packages (meaning
'means to install your developed code on a box that you
aren't compiling on), well, tough. We had this difficulty
when 4.2 *was* unstable - I wrote the minideb stuff precisely because
I couldn't get Ubuntu's 4.1/4.0 packaging to do sensible things.
And at the time Debian's "4.2" package did not appear to bear a
meaningful relationship to any source tree I could find. That's
not a criticism of either maintainer - I just wanted to make a
package from Unstable that worked.

Further, as Sylvain Munuat pointed out, the debian/ubuntu (certainly
ubuntu) packages are often incomplete. In 4.1 Ubuntu, various libraries
were missing, for instance. They are targeted at the user who wants
support from their distro, as opposed to the developer who is trying
to find an easy way to install a copy of xen he's developed.

On the other hand I can see the 'thin end of the wedge' argument.
Perhaps in the 'make deb' makefile (and the 'make minideb' thing
if you take that in) it should say in capital letters with asterisks
that this is a development package and no substitute for a distribution
install.

I'm not trying to displace proper debian/ubuntu packaging here. And
it's no skin off my nose either way really as we compile our own
stuff anyway so pulling it a changeset is not a huge amount of work.
I just thought it might be useful!

--
Alex Bligh

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