Misc Developer News (#27)

The news are collected on http://wiki.debian.org/DeveloperNews
Please contribute short news about your work/plans/subproject.

In this issue:
 + Planet Debian Derivatives
 + win32-loader.exe now eases access to the GNU/Hurd Debian-Installer
 + Wiki bugstatus extended to Launchpad bugs
 + dh-exec enters unstable
 + derivatives patch generation prototype

Planet Debian Derivatives
-------------------------

 The first concrete outcome from the Debian derivatives census[1] is the
 creation of Planet Debian Derivatives[2]. For those of you who are
 interested in the activites of distributions derived from Debian, it
 aggregates the blogs and planets of all the distributions represented in
 the derivatives census. The list of feeds will be expanded
 semi-automatically as more distributions participate in the census and
 maintainers of census pages add new blog and planet URLs. Further
 integration[3] of information about derivatives into Debian
 infrastructure is planned, with the next target being package
 information.

  -- Paul Wise

 [1] http://wiki.debian.org/Derivatives/Census
 [2] http://planet.debian.org/deriv/
 [3] http://wiki.debian.org/Derivatives/Integration

win32-loader.exe now eases access to the GNU/Hurd Debian-Installer
------------------------------------------------------------------

 Since its 0.7.4 version and thanks to Samuel Thibault, the standalone
 flavour of win32-loader.exe[4] (available from the mirrors network), now
 allows one to easily reboot a Windows host in the GNU/Hurd
 Debian-Installer.

 When run from a Windows host, this executable downloads the
 Debian-Installer and configures the Windows bootloader to allow a
 seamless reboot to the Debian-Installer. It is supposed to work on all
 known Windows versions and can download the GNU/Linux, the GNU/kFreeBSD
 or the GNU/Hurd Debian-Installer flavours.

  -- Didier Raboud

 [4] http://ftp.ch.debian.org/debian/tools/win32-loader/unstab...

Wiki bugstatus extended to Launchpad bugs
-----------------------------------------

 The bug status JavaScript on the wiki checks the status of bugs, adds a
 useful title and applies different styles depending on if they are closed
 or open. Thanks to some help from Paul Tagliamonte[5], links to the
 Launchpad bug tracker are now supported in addition to the existing
 support for the Debian bug tracker. To use this, use the UbuntuBug or
 LaunchpadBug InterWiki[6] links, or just link to Launchpad bugs with a
 normal link. If you would like to extend this support to other bug
 trackers, please check out the wiki config[7] and submit a bug with patch
 to the wiki.debian.org[8] pseudo-package.

  -- Paul Wise

 [5] http://wiki.debian.org/PaulTagliamonte
 [6] http://wiki.debian.org/InterWiki
 [7] http://wiki.debian.org/Teams/DebianWiki#Infrastructure
 [8] http://bugs.debian.org/wiki.debian.org

dh-exec enters unstable
-----------------------

 Debhelper (in compat level 9 and above) allows its config files to be
 executable, and uses the output of suchs scripts as if it was the content
 of the config file.

 dh-exec[9] is a collection of scripts and programs to help creating such
 scripts in a standardised and easy to understand fashion.

 The collection provides helpers for the following tasks:

  * Expanding variables in various debhelper files (either from the
    environment, or variables known to dpkg-architecture - including
    multi-arch ones)
  * An extension to dh_install, that supports renaming files during the
    copy process, using an extended syntax.

 dh-exec is available in unstable, ready to be used by anyone who needs
 either of the above features.

  -- Gergely Nagy

 [9] https://github.com/algernon/dh-exec

derivatives patch generation prototype
--------------------------------------

 The second concrete outcome from the Debian derivatives census[10]
 integration[11] is the generation of debdiffs between Debian and our
 derivatives[12]. For those of you who are interested in the patches
 applied by distributions derived from Debian, the service uses the
 snapshots.debian.org[13] database and files to generate a set of patches
 for all the distributions represented in the derivatives census that have
 deb-src entries in their apt sources.list snippet. The service is not yet
 live due to a number of issues. When the service goes live the set of
 patches will be expanded automatically as more distributions participate
 in the census and maintainers of census pages add deb-src lines to their
 apt sources.list snippets. Further integration[14] of information about
 derivatives into Debian infrastructure is planned, with the next target
 being more integration of derivatives package information.

  -- Paul Wise

 [10] http://wiki.debian.org/Derivatives/Census
 [11] http://wiki.debian.org/Derivatives/Integration
 [12] http://lists.debian.org/debian-derivatives/2011/10/msg000...
 [13] http://snapshots.debian.org
 [14] http://wiki.debian.org/Derivatives/Integration

-- 
bye,
pabs

http://wiki.debian.org/PaulWise