• DebianScience
• Sponsoring

There are many science software lying around already packaged as .deb. What could be done from DebianScience to help them to be integrated into Debian main? Let us hope we will be able to migrate good stuff inside Debian

Packagers with .deb packages requesting sponsoring

• Kamaraju S Kusumanchi for:

  • fortranposix
  • gnuplotfortran

• jmol

  • Well, maybe not ready yet

• ROOT

  • I intend to sponsor this when it's ready (the packages are still being worked on). --KevinMcCarty

Wannabe packagers

• Dirk Nolting for isotopic distribution of a molecule

  • Do it as a library.

How to make packages

Please no duplication of already existing information, just relevant pointers.

In Daniel Leidert words:

If you want to build the package yourself, you should open an ITP bug-report against wnpp, read the Debian New Maintainers Guide, build your package, upload your (source) package (maybe to mentors.debian.net) and discuss the result with experienced packagers/developers (e.g. at mentors mailing list). If everything is ok, search for a sponsor (read the mentors faq) or become a DD (described somewhere at debian.org) to officially get your package into Debian. If you don't want to package the software yourself, you should open a RFP bug-report against wnpp and search for someone, who wants to build the package.

Some explanations of packaging:

• http://women.alioth.debian.org/wiki/index.php/English/BuildingTutorial

• http://women.alioth.debian.org/wiki/index.php/English/PackagingTutorial

• http://women.alioth.debian.org/wiki/index.php/English/MaintainerScripts

Possibly useful resources

• debian-mentors FAQ (a general FAQ about the project, packaging practice, searching for sponsors and doing sponsoring)

• Debian New Maintainers Guide (a general introduction into packaging practice and files)

• Debian Developer's Reference (the reference for developers with hints for best packaging practice)

• Debian Policy Manual (the policy - explains files, decision-criteria for e.g. the main/contrib/non-free sections and more - be aware, that a package should always fit the latest policy)

• Debian Library Packaging guide (the very special guide for library packaging practice)

• http://sponsors.debian.net

• Involvement in Debian(-women) with many useful links

• Reject FAQ

• Debian-Binary-Package-Building-HOWTO

Collective packaging practice and review

There are several examples inside Debian.

• The utnubu team

• The proposal for orphaned packages now superseded by CollaborativeMaintenance (read this proposal).

• The pkg-ocaml-maint Task Force

• The pkg-java Debian Java Packaging Project

• The Debian XML/SGML group

• The Debian Games Team

• add other examples you know

Would it be a nice thing to settle for DebianScience? Is anyone interested in?

• A thread on debian-devel about Team Maintenance

  • Some other proposal

Q&A

• an issue about scientific software, the old chestnut about where things should be installed

  • You mean poorly written?

  • A possible solution

.deb lying around

What can I do?

• File a RFP bug report

• Check the package

  • lintian

  • piuparts

  • (pbuilder)

• Kindly ask the current maintainer if he is willing to maintain the package for Debian (that means at least tracking the BTS and conforming to the evolving Debian policy)

  • If not then find an other maintainer (or a team) willing to do so

• Upload to mentors.debian.net

• Find a sponsor

  • debian-mentors

  • sponsors.debian.net

  • anywhere else

usertags

See DebianScience/Usertags.