Re: Git branch layout for packages requiring DFSG-cleaning

Hello,

On Thu, 20 Aug 2026, at 21:45, Marcin Owsiany wrote:
> I found some conflicting information about the recommended branch layout
> and I'm wondering why that is (mistake? outdated recommendation) and
> what folks tend to use in practice and why.

My approach:
If the upstream files I’m removing while repacking are not redistributable, I don’t add them to Git at all, even if they’re present in the upstream’s Git branch. I only import filtered tarballs.
If the upstream files are legally okay, depending on whether it’s tarballs or a Git branch, I sometimes import them as upstream/latest or upstream/{master,main}. Cleaned sources go onto upstream/dfsg, into which I merge the unfiltered upstream branch: doing that tells Git these files can be removed upon the next merge.
For a bunch of packages, I choose the first approach because I don’t care about the upstream Git or tarballs at all.

-- 
Cheers,
  Andrej