Petter Reinholdtsen: 45 orphaned Debian packages moved to git, 391 to go
Nine days ago, I started migrating orphaned Debian packages with no
version control system listed in debian/control of the source to git.
At the time there were 438 such packages. Now there are 391,
according to the UDD. In reality it is slightly less, as there is a
delay between uploads and UDD updates. In the nine days since, I have
thus been able to work my way through ten percent of the packages. I
am starting to run out of steam, and hope someone else will also help
brushing some dust of these packages. Here is a recipe how to do it.
I start by picking a random package by querying the UDD for a list of
10 random packages from the set of remaining packages:
Next, I visit http://salsa.debian.org/debian and search for the package name, to ensure no git repository already exist. If it does, I clone it and try to get it to an uploadable state, and add the Vcs-* entries in d/control to make the repository more widely known. These packages are a minority, so I will not cover that use case here. For packages without an existing git repository, I run the following script debian-snap-to-salsa to prepare a git repository with the existing packaging.PGPASSWORD="udd-mirror" psql --port=5432 --host=udd-mirror.debian.net \ --username=udd-mirror udd -c "select source from sources \ where release = 'sid' and (vcs_url ilike '%anonscm.debian.org%' \ OR vcs_browser ilike '%anonscm.debian.org%' or vcs_url IS NULL \ OR vcs_browser IS NULL) AND maintainer ilike '%packages@qa.debian.org%' \ order by random() limit 10;"
#!/bin/sh
#
# See also https://bugs.debian.org/804722#31
set -e
# Move to this Standards-Version.
SV_LATEST=4.7.0
PKG="$1"
if [ -z "$PKG" ]; then
echo "usage: $0 "
exit 1
fi
if [ -e "$ PKG -salsa" ]; then
echo "error: $ PKG -salsa already exist, aborting."
exit 1
fi
if [ -z "ALLOWFAILURE" ] ; then
ALLOWFAILURE=false
fi
# Fetch every snapshotted source package. Manually loop until all
# transfers succeed, as 'gbp import-dscs --debsnap' do not fail on
# download failures.
until debsnap --force -v $PKG $ALLOWFAILURE ; do sleep 1; done
mkdir $ PKG -salsa; cd $ PKG -salsa
git init
# Specify branches to override any debian/gbp.conf file present in the
# source package.
gbp import-dscs --debian-branch=master --upstream-branch=upstream \
--pristine-tar ../source-$PKG/*.dsc
# Add Vcs pointing to Salsa Debian project (must be manually created
# and pushed to).
if ! grep -q ^Vcs- debian/control ; then
awk "BEGIN s=1 /^\$/ if (s==1) print \"Vcs-Browser: https://salsa.debian.org/debian/$PKG\"; print \"Vcs-Git: https://salsa.debian.org/debian/$PKG.git\" ; s=0 print " < debian/control > debian/control.new && mv debian/control.new debian/control
git commit -m "Updated vcs in d/control to Salsa." debian/control
fi
# Tell gbp to enforce the use of pristine-tar.
inifile +inifile debian/gbp.conf +create +section DEFAULT +key pristine-tar +value True
git add debian/gbp.conf
git commit -m "Added d/gbp.conf to enforce the use of pristine-tar." debian/gbp.conf
# Update to latest Standards-Version.
SV="$(grep ^Standards-Version: debian/control awk ' print $2 ')"
if [ $SV_LATEST != $SV ]; then
sed -i "s/\(Standards-Version: \)\(.*\)/\1$SV_LATEST/" debian/control
git commit -m "Updated Standards-Version from $SV to $SV_LATEST." debian/control
fi
if grep -q pkg-config debian/control; then
sed -i s/pkg-config/pkgconf/ debian/control
git commit -m "Replaced obsolete pkg-config build dependency with pkgconf." debian/control
fi
if grep -q libncurses5-dev debian/control; then
sed -i s/libncurses5-dev/libncurses-dev/ debian/control
git commit -m "Replaced obsolete libncurses5-dev build dependency with libncurses-dev." debian/control
fi
With a working build, I have a look at the build rules if I want to remove some more dust. I normally try to move to debhelper compat level 13, which involves removing debian/compat and modifying debian/control to build depend on debhelper-compat (=13). I also test with 'Rules-Requires-Root: no' in debian/control and verify in debian/rules that hardening is enabled, and include all of these if the package still build. If it fail to build with level 13, I try with 12, 11, 10 and so on until I find a level where it build, as I do not want to spend a lot of time fixing build issues. Some times, when I feel inspired, I make sure debian/copyright is converted to the machine readable format, often by starting with 'debhelper -cc' and then cleaning up the autogenerated content until it matches realities. If I feel like it, I might also clean up non-dh-based debian/rules files to use the short style dh build rules. Once I have removed all the dust I care to process for the package, I run 'gbp dch' to generate a debian/changelog entry based on the commits done so far, run 'dch -r' to switch from 'UNRELEASED' to 'unstable' and get an editor to make sure the 'QA upload' marker is in place and that all long commit descriptions are wrapped into sensible lengths, run 'debcommit --release -a' to commit and tag the new debian/changelog entry, run 'debuild -S' to build a source only package, and 'dput ../perl-byacc_2.0-10_source.changes' to do the upload. During the entire process, and many times per step, I run 'debuild' to verify the changes done still work. I also some times verify the set of built files using 'find debian' to see if I can spot any problems (like no file in usr/bin any more or empty package). I also try to fix all lintian issues reported at the end of each 'debuild' run. If I find Debian specific patches, I try to ensure their metadata is fairly up to date and some times I even try to reach out to upstream, to make the upstream project aware of the patches. Most of my emails bounce, so the success rate is low. For projects with no Homepage entry in debian/control I try to track down one, and for packages with no debian/watch file I try to create one. But at least for some of the packages I have been unable to find a functioning upstream, and must skip both of these. If I could handle ten percent in nine days, twenty people could complete the rest in less then five days. I use approximately twenty minutes per package, when I have twenty minutes spare time to spend. Perhaps you got twenty minutes to spare too? As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address 15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b.git remote add origin git@salsa.debian.org:debian/perl-byacc.git git push --set-upstream origin master upstream pristine-tar git push --tags
With ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
One of the most common fallacies programmers fall into is that we will jump
to automating a solution before we stop and figure out how much time it would even save.
In taking a slow improvement route to solve this problem for myself,
I ve managed not to invest too much time
I was working on what looked like a good pattern for a pair of
jeans-shaped trousers, and I knew I wasn t happy with 200-ish g/m
cotton-linen for general use outside of deep summer, but I didn t have a
source for proper denim either (I had been low-key looking for it for a
long time).
Then one day I looked at an article I had saved about fabric shops that
sell technical fabric and while window-shopping on one I found that they
had a decent selection of denim in a decent weight.
I decided it was a sign, and decided to buy the two heaviest denim they
had: a 
The shop sent everything very quickly, the courier took their time (oh,
well) but eventually delivered my fabric on a sunny enough day that I
could wash it and start as soon as possible on the first pair.
The pattern I did in linen was a bit too fitting, but I was afraid I had
widened it a bit too much, so I did the first pair in the 100% cotton
denim. Sewing them took me about a week of early mornings and late
afternoons, excluding the weekend, and my worries proved false: they
were mostly just fine.
The only bit that could have been a bit better is the waistband, which
is a tiny bit too wide on the back: it s designed to be so for comfort,
but the next time I should pull the elastic a bit more, so that it stays
closer to the body.
I wore those jeans daily for the rest of the week, and confirmed that
they were indeed comfortable and the pattern was ok, so on the next
Monday I started to cut the elastic denim.
I decided to cut and sew two pairs, assembly-line style, using the
shaped waistband for one of them and the straight one for the other one.
I started working on them on a Monday, and on that week I had a couple
of days when I just couldn t, plus I completely skipped sewing on the
weekend, but on Tuesday the next week one pair was ready and could be
worn, and the other one only needed small finishes.
And I have to say, I m really, really happy with the ones with a shaped
waistband in elastic denim, as they fit even better than the ones with a
straight waistband gathered with elastic. Cutting it requires more
fabric, but I think it s definitely worth it.
But it will be a problem for a later time: right now three pairs of
jeans are a good number to keep in rotation, and I hope I won t have to
sew jeans for myself for quite some time.
I think that the leftovers of plain denim will be used for a skirt or
something else, and as for the leftovers of elastic denim, well, there
aren t a lot left, but what else I did with them is the topic for
another post.
Thanks to the fact that they are all slightly different, I ve started to
keep track of the times when I wash each pair, and hopefully I will be
able to see whether the elastic denim is significantly less durable than
the regular, or the added weight compensates for it somewhat. I m not
sure I ll manage to remember about saving the data until they get worn,
but if I do it will be interesting to know.
Oh, and I say I ve finished working on jeans and everything, but I still
haven t sewn the belt loops to the third pair. And I m currently wearing
them. It s a sewist tradition, or something. :D
In October 2023, I departed from the 
In light of the recent 
Insert obligatory "not THAT data" comment here
If you don't know who Professor Julius Sumner Miller is, I highly recommend 
No thanks, Bender, I'm busy tonight