[maemo-developers] Porting packages from debian

[From: Graham Cobb]

On Tuesday 22 April 2008 08:58:29 Arto Karppinen wrote:
> If i get a debian package sources from debian website and compile it in
> Maemo, what should i do to debian/* files?

Different people use different approaches.  One thing to consider is using MUD 
(http://mud-builder.garage.maemo.org/) as it allows you to save any changes 
you have to make to get it to build for the benefit of anyone else who needs 
the package later.  It may also, one day, provide a basis for autobuilding 
packages for new releases.

But using MUD doesn't actually answer your questions (although it will default 
the maintainer to being the mud distribution list).

> - Should i change myself as maintainer when i have no idea about the
> internals of the lib?

Personally I would say yes, and I do for the packages I build.  It doesn't 
seem sensible to leave the maintainer set to a person who has never even 
heard of Maemo and would not know how to contact me if someone contacted them 
about a packaging problem.  If someone had a real query about the code I 
could always pass it on to the Debian maintainer.

> - Should i add something to the package version, like lib_1.2.3-mypkg1,
> or something?

I tend to do that if I have made some substantive change.  So, changes to the 
build process wouldn't count, but changes to the behaviour of the code would.  
In my experience, the most common change is to disable building things like 
documentation (which the tablet will delete if you install, and which often 
has complex dependencies)  which probably doesn't need a version change.

But others may decide differently!

Graham