Bug#1106402: dpkg-source, native source package format with non-native version

Timo Röhling <[email protected]> Sun, 1 Jun 2025 23:22:25 +0200

Newsgroups	gmane.linux.debian.devel.ctte
Organization	The Debian Project
Message-ID	<c1aa5679-fc44-4948-aaa5-8f02c4dcafc6__4150.5904098571$1748813140$gmane$org@mail.gaussglocke.de>

Control: owner -1 !
Control: tags -1 + confirmed

Hi,

as per
https://salsa.debian.org/debian/tech-ctte/-/blob/master/procedures/moderation.md
I am assuming the moderator role for this TC bug.

I'm going to summarize the state of this bug and the original bug 
against dpkg as I have read up on it:


Ian submitted the TC bug as a follow-up to a previous TC ruling that it 
is not considered a bug to have a non-native version in a native source 
package. He asks that dpkg-source no longer unconditionally rejects such 
versions for source packages with format "3.0 (native)".

Guillem argues in the original bug that the versioning scheme is an 
important part of the distinction between native and non-native packages 
and explicitly encoded as such in Debian Policy. As dpkg-source will 
only refuse to *build* non-complying packages, and builds are presumed 
to come with package changes and a version bump, it is a small ask of 
maintainers to fix their affected packages.

Dimitri argues that the native package format is useful even for 
non-native packages and mentions the linux-signed source package, which 
is technically native but needs to match the version number of the 
corresponding non-native linux image. (Ian also mentions in the TC bug 
that Ubuntu has patched dpkg to enable this use-case). Besides, Debian 
tooling is not exclusively used for Debian development and therefore 
should not unconditionally enforce Debian Policy either. Sam and a few 
others support this viewpoint with use-cases outside Debian, which would 
benefit from dpkg-source being more lenient.

As a secondary motion, Ian wishes for dpkg-source to be changed in time 
for the trixie release. The Release Team, however, has signaled that 
they consider this change to come far too late in the release cycle, 
especially considering that the bug in questions has been open for more 
than 10 years at this point.


If I have mispresented or omitted important facts, please do not 
hesitate to correct me.

Cheers
Timo

-- 
⢀⣴⠾⠻⢶⣦⠀   ╭────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
⣾⠁⢠⠒⠀⣿⡁   │ Timo Röhling                                       │
⢿⡄⠘⠷⠚⠋⠀   │ 9B03 EBB9 8300 DF97 C2B1  23BF CC8C 6BDD 1403 F4CA │
⠈⠳⣄⠀⠀⠀⠀   ╰────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

signature.asc (application/pgp-signature, 833 B)