[maemo-developers] Repositories mess: conclusions and actions

[From: Steve Greenland]

According to Eero Tamminen  <eero.tamminen at nokia.com>:
> Even better would be if it could build Debian source package on
> request. Just by giving it the package name it would fetch the sources
> from Debian repository and (try to) build them for Maemo.

While I understand the appeal, this is a really bad idea. Debian
packages contain lots of assumptions and content that is not suitable
for a quality N800 (N700, N810, whatever) package.

Just a few:

- documentation files, manpages, changelogs, licenses, etc. Admittedly,
this could be filtered out by the autobuilder.

- assumptions about default users and groups

- creation of users and groups

- install scripts doing unnecessary things, and bringing in extra
dependencies that are unneeded.

- log fiies, which lead to log rotation.

- assumptions about file system layout that the N800 et. al. do not obey

- Oh, and the control fields such as "Maintainer" and "Section" are
probably wrong.

Basically, even if a Debian source package would be fine on the N800,
it needs someone to look at it and confirm. You could automate some of
this, but I don't think a total automation is feasible, or even worth
working on.

Regards,
Steve
-- 
Steve Greenland
    The irony is that Bill Gates claims to be making a stable operating
    system and Linus Torvalds claims to be trying to take over the
    world.       -- seen on the net