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Frequently Asked Questions

The Archive

How do I get my changed package X into Universe/Multiverse?

Via the SponsorshipProcess

NOTE : If it's important enough to be shipped in the stable distro, read StableReleaseUpdates.

What Version Should my Package Have ? / Should My Package have -0ubuntu1 appended to the End of the Version Number ?

• Ubuntu and Debian have slightly different package versioning schemes, for an explanation see https://help.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/packagingguide/C/basic-scratch.html#id2577623

How can I make multi pbuilders ? / How can I make a pbuilder for ( Edgy / Dapper / Breezy / Debian SID ) ?

• You can Read about setting up pbuilder ( a system to easily build packages in a clean chroot environment ) at http://wiki.ubuntu.com/PbuilderHowto

What options do I need for debuild to make a source package including tar.gz?

• debuild -S -sa

Upstream already provided a debian-dir in the orig.tar.gz, what now?

• Always ask upstream kindly to remove it.
• At your option (if you need to remove a file from the upstream debian-dir you will need to remove the upstream debian-dir from orig.tar.gz):
  • Remove it from the tarball, renaming the tarball while doing so. Example: foo_0.2.orig.tar.gz would then be foo_0.2repacked1.orig.tar.gz.
  • Just modify the package as usual.

I need to fix a bug in the upstream provided source, modify the source or add a patch?

• If the package already has a packaging system, make a patch and add it.
• If the package does not have a packaging system and the patch is small, you can modify the source. It is an Ubuntu goal to keep diffs with Debian small and so if modifying the source makes a smaller diff than adding a patch system you should generally modify the source.
• If your package uses cdbs, you ought to consider using simple-patchsys and use cdbs-edit-patch to make your patch in any case.

• See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MOTU/School/PatchingSources for more information on patching

I want to maintain a package

Here's what it means if a package has your name and mail address in the Maintainer: field in debian/control:

• You will take care of the package's bugs. It makes sense if you are bug contact for that package in Launchpad.
• You will liaise with upstream.
  • You track what's going on upstream.
  • You will try to build a good communication to the upstream developers.
• You will find out how to fix bugs appropriately. Uploading new upstream versions is just not enough. (Think of fixes in stable releases.)

What does XSBC-Original-Maintainer mean?

When a package is changed in Ubuntu, the Maintainer field (in debian/control) is changed to indicate the Ubuntu team responsible for the Ubuntu specific changes (often "Ubuntu MOTU Developers <ubuntu-motu@lists.ubuntu.com>" for universe packages). In order to ensure appropriate credit for the packaging work, the original maintainer is preserved in a new field: XSBC-Original-Maintainer. This is a user-defined field (X) which is included in the .dsc file for the source package (S), the .deb file for the binary package (B), and the .changes file (C).

When the Maintainer field is adjusted, the value of XSBC-Original-Maintainer should exactly match the previous value of Maintainer.

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