[Ubuntu] Fwd: [Live-demo] Packaging and project re-organization

[Andreas Tille]

Hi Angelos,

On Thu, Dec 26, 2013 at 10:19:37PM +0200, Angelos Tzotsos wrote:
> >
> >My proposal here is to split the project (since it grew too big):
> >- OSGeoLive ppa (UbuntuGIS or perhaps other)
> >- OSGeoLive apt repository (for packages not fitting under the
> >Launchpad rules, eg. Java binary packages)
> >- OSGeoLive docs and translations (should be maintained separately and
> >create a deb file periodically e.g. for every new commit)
> >- OSGeoLive data (also should be packaged in a deb file)
> >- OSGeoLive build scripts (for anything not in a deb file, e.g. the
> >actual build files)

I admit I'm not informed about OSGeoLive and Ubuntu PPAs so I can not
comment on this.

> Based on the previous proposal I would to discuss the potential
> solutions on how to create Debian packages targeting the 8.0 release:
> 
> My suggestion here is to create a Launchpad account for OSGeoLive, which
> we will use to "freeze" UbuntuGIS-Unstable when we are preparing a
> release. This means that this OSGeoLive ppa will not be used for
> packaging, just for release purposes, to avoid last minute changes in
> UbuntuGIS-Unstable.
> Alternatively we could use UbuntuGIS-Stable and try to keep the packages
> we need there, but this would require the OSGeoLive team to have a
> certain level of control to that ppa which I am not sure it is proper.
> 
> The second step is to make sure we have a place to host deb files that
> are not acceptable under the Launchpad rules. A simple solution would be
> to create an apt-repository to the OSGeo infrastructure. We just need a
> folder under apache and ssh access so that we can periodically upload
> deb files and re-calculate the index:
> http://www.hiddentao.com/archives/2011/06/27/setting-up-a-simple-ubuntu-apt-repository/

See above.

> The third and "difficult" part is the deb packaging itself. Here we have
> several possible paths:
> 
> 1. Use all the standard tools in Debian packaging and create/update
> packages on UbuntuGIS ppa.

I personally would welcome if the packaging itself would happen in Debian
GIS repository[1]

> A VERY simple example to create a deb package is shown here:
> http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=910717
> but usually more complex things are required so the complete guides can
> be found here:
> https://wiki.debian.org/IntroDebianPackaging
> http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/maint-guide/
> http://packaging.ubuntu.com/html/

I would like to repeat my offer of sponsering GIS related packages I
have offered in my "Sponsering of Blends"[2] effort which surely also
involves giving hints to relevant packaging documentation in case of
trouble.

> 2. Use helper programs to produce deb packages.
> Recently I used this excellent tool for packaging/deployment:
> https://github.com/jordansissel/fpm
> https://github.com/jordansissel/fpm/wiki
> http://goo.gl/sWs3Z

I admit I'm quite reluctant about tools like this.  Without having ever
tried I have serious doubt that you can create lintian clean packages
once packaging might become non-trivial.  Creating trivial packages is
easy with plain Debian tools and thus we end up with complex packaging
which will most probably fail with fpm anyway.

> ...
> and we have a geoserver_2.4.3_all.deb file ready for us.

Did you checked the changes file with lintian?  May be my suspiscion is
wrong and I need to change my mind about this.

Kind regards

        Andreas.

[1] https://wiki.debian.org/DebianGis
[2] https://wiki.debian.org/DebianPureBlends/SoB

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