[room] LWN: How Debian packages a number

[Michael Shigorin <mike@osdn.org.ua>]

	Не дадут поспать...

<http://lwn.net/Articles/233660/>

Debian developer Josselin Mouette recently posted an intent to package 
notification for a useful-seeming library package:

This package contains the "09F911029D74E35BD84156C5635688C0" number. It 
is a very cool number, which, among other things, can be used by a wide 
range of HD-DVD deciphering applications.

A small library is provided to access this number in applications. The 
get_09F911029D74E35BD84156C5635688C0 C function returns a pointer to a 
16-byte structure containing this number.

Now, it's hard to argue with centralizing access to useful resources, 
and one would think that the creation of such a package would be a 
simple task. The response from the Debian community makes it clear that 
even simple-seeming tasks can be difficult, though.

For starters, what happens when upstream releases a new version of the 
number? It appears necessary to add a separate version number to the 
library name. Another helpful developer pointed out the need for a 
command-line utility to obtain the number from scripts and such. Then 
there's the matter of bindings for Ruby, Perl, Python, and Lua, each of 
which would need a separate package. Even that's not enough, though, 
since the number in question is seen to be architecture-independent, and 
thus requiring a package separate from the library which uses it. Others 
pointed out that, now that Java is free, a Java binding will be required 
as well.

Then there's the matter of GUI tools for GNOME, KDE, and XFCE.

As of this writing, the Debian developers were beginning to grapple with 
the need for a full set of translations and setting up a special 
internationalization mailing list for this package. All of this 
attention to detail and universal support demonstrates how Debian has 
become such a comprehensive, well-integrated distribution. Look for the 
upcoming "Lenny" release to have the best l33t h4x0r numb3r of any 
distributor out there.

-- 
 ---- WBR, Michael Shigorin <mike@altlinux.ru>
  ------ Linux.Kiev http://www.linux.kiev.ua/