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• Launchpad entry: https://features.launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+spec/changelog-closes-bugs

• Packages affected: dpkg

Summary

The goal is to add functionality similar to Debian's "Closes: #1234" in changelogs to Ubuntu. This specification deals with the Ubuntu side and has a matching launchpad specification. While this specification does not specify any syntax for referencing branches or specifications, the syntax is extensible enough to allow that.

Rationale

Not being able to close bugs from the changelog has been a long-standing complaint from the distro team. In addition to the convenience, it creates a link between upload and bug closing that Launchpad can display.

Use cases

• Martin uploads a package which fixes a bug in Ubuntu. The package makes it way through the queues and into the archive. Malone gets notified of the upload and closes the relevant bug. The submitter and other interested parties are notified and launchpad contains the link between the upload and the bug closing.

Scope

This spec only covers the Ubuntu part, there is/will be a matching Launchpad specification.

Design and implementation

We are going to duplicate the functionality already in use for closing bugs in Debian, but with different names to avoid clashes.

The chosen syntax is simply LP: #1 to close bug number 1. In the future, it can be extended to LP: spec spec-name or something similar for referencing specs.. dpkg-dev will be extended to parse the changelog and generate a space-separated Launchpad-bugs-fixed header which goes into the .changes file. (Ex Launchpad-bugs-fixed: 1 2 3 4)

CategorySpec