[Debtags-devel] 1.0 preview of debtags tools

[Enrico Zini]

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[I'm posting to deb-usability in case someone still hasn't subscribed to
 debtags-devel.  Don't miss your New Debtags Development: subscribe NOW
 at http://lists.alioth.debian.org/mailman/listinfo/debtags-devel !!]
=20
Hello,

Version 1.0 of the debtags suite is now almost complete.

You can access it from subversion at:

  http://svn.debian.org/viewcvs/debtags/libdebtags
    Browse online
  svn://svn.debian.org/debtags/libdebtags
    Read-only access
  svn+ssh://alioth.debian.org/svn/debtags/libdebtags
    Write access

and I uploaded a preview in the debtags APT repository at:

  deb http://debtags.alioth.debian.org/debian unstable main

There are minor bugs left around, but the previous functionalities are
there again.  Not only, but they're there with a brand new improved
never-seen-before infrastructure behind!

Please test it and write some feedback in the list.  If you are building
something on libdebtags (hi Benjamin and Mornfall!), you should really
consider porting to this version and posting on how it's going.

-----

While I'm announcing, I take advantage to cry for help on some open
problems:

 - tagcolledit, ItemList.cc, the custom CellRenderer doesn't display the
   tag sets.  I'd like some help in that, because I don't really know
   what to try anymore.

 - is there a way to make the pkgTagFile in apt-pkg read gzipped files?
   I'm committed to removing DebDBParser but I still want to read
   freshly downloaded compressed files on the fly during debtags update.
   If there is no way for pkgTagFile to read gzipped files, I'll resort
   to write something equivalent which can still use pkgTagSection.

 - I'd like to discuss a versioning scheme for these preview
   versions.  The main point it should have is being valid and efficient
   while reducing keystrokes: we have 6 packages here, and debtags
   depends on libdebtags which depends on libtagcoll.  Recompiling and
   retesting everything to change little bits is a long and painful task
   (that's why I'm not using pbuilder for debtags, unfortunately).
   So far, it's very frustrating to work 3 days on the code and then
   spend a fourth one building and rebuilding packages to make preview
   and official releases :(

 - versioned dependencies: in this previews, I set dependencies in
   shlibs to be the exact package version, because the API may undergo
   slight changes which break binary compatibility.  However, I
   understand it's wrong.
   What is the best way to handle dependencies on a
   still-not-super-stable-API-library without increasing the soname
   version and making a new package name every time some small bit
   changes?

 - Generally speaking: help!  I need help!  Spread the voice!  If
   someone is thinking about committing some code, please just do it!

   If you don't feel like touching the code but you're a good Debian
   packager, I would really appreciated someone taking care of the
   packaging for me.

-----

And now, enjoy Mankind's New Debtags Evolutions, and remember that you
are contributing to no less than a real UNESCO World Treasure! [1]


Ciao,

Enrico

[1]
http://www.fwtunesco.org/atmlist/freesoftware.html
--
GPG key: 1024D/797EBFAB 2000-12-05 Enrico Zini <enrico@debian.org>

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