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Bug#555009: debian-policy: alt. changelog formats are still advertised

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Jakub Wilk

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Nov 7, 2009, 5:50:01 PM11/7/09
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Package: debian-policy
Version: 3.8.3.0
Severity: minor

According to upgrading-checklist, support for alternative changelog
formats were removed in Debian Policy 3.8.1.0. However, appendix C still
documents their usage:

$ zgrep -A4 'alternative changelog' /usr/share/doc/debian-policy/policy.txt.gz
C.2.2.1. Defining alternative changelog formats
-----------------------------------------------

It is possible to use a different format to the standard one, by
providing a parser for the format you wish to use.


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Jakub Wilk

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Manoj Srivastava

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Nov 20, 2009, 6:00:01 PM11/20/09
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Hi,

The appendices are not normative parts of policy, they are
around so that we do not lose bits of documentation that ought to be
part of dpkg documentation.

Having said that, perhaps it is time to yank these non-normative
sections into a separate document, and away from policy proper?

manoj
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Russ Allbery

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Nov 20, 2009, 6:30:01 PM11/20/09
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Manoj Srivastava <sriv...@acm.org> writes:

> The appendices are not normative parts of policy, they are
> around so that we do not lose bits of documentation that ought to be
> part of dpkg documentation.

> Having said that, perhaps it is time to yank these non-normative
> sections into a separate document, and away from policy proper?

Yeah, I'm all in favor. I was going to look at doing that but haven't had
the time.

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Russ Allbery (r...@debian.org) <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>

Russ Allbery

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Jun 2, 2010, 12:50:02 PM6/2/10
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Jakub Wilk <uba...@users.sf.net> writes:

> According to upgrading-checklist, support for alternative changelog
> formats were removed in Debian Policy 3.8.1.0. However, appendix C still
> documents their usage:

> $ zgrep -A4 'alternative changelog'
> /usr/share/doc/debian-policy/policy.txt.gz C.2.2.1. Defining alternative
> changelog formats
> -----------------------------------------------

> It is possible to use a different format to the standard one, by
> providing a parser for the format you wish to use.

I checked with the dpkg maintainers and while this is still a supported
feature, it's very rarely used and the documentation that was in Policy
has bitrotted somewhat. Given that and given that it's not allowed in the
Debian archive, Policy clearly isn't the place for it. The dpkg
maintainers will be picking up this documentation, updating it, and adding
it to the dpkg-parsechangelog man page or some other similar place.

Since it's not even accurate as it stands, with the (implied) agreement of
the dpkg maintainers, I'm going to pull it out of Policy for the next
release even in advance of it being incorporated in the dpkg
documentation.

See #584141.

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Russ Allbery (r...@debian.org) <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>

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