#1103510 RFS: vara/0.1.250414+1 [ITP] -- Drawing and digital painting application

#1103510#5
Date:
2025-04-18 11:12:08 UTC
From:
To:
Dear mentors,

I am looking for a sponsor for my package "vara":

* Package name : vara
Version : 0.1.250414
Upstream contact : nandakumar@nandakumar.co.in
* URL : https://nandakumar.co.in/software/vara/
* License : GPL-3
* Section : graphics

The source builds the following binary packages:

vara - Drawing and digital painting application

Vara is already available on Flathub and Ubuntu Snap store, but being it
part of Debian will help users appreciate its lightweight nature (unless
they are ready to try out the deb files from the official site).

The source tarball available on the site is currently missing `make
install` and any debian/ files. But Vara currently has a proper
deb-building workflow based on dpkg-buildpackage, so they'll be made
available in the next version.


Regards,

#1103510#10
Date:
2025-04-18 11:42:22 UTC
From:
To:
Hi,

Will you be uploading the source package to Debian Mentors and/or importing the
package into Debian Salsa (gitlab instance)?

#1103510#15
Date:
2025-04-18 11:42:22 UTC
From:
To:
Hi,

Will you be uploading the source package to Debian Mentors and/or importing the
package into Debian Salsa (gitlab instance)?

#1103510#20
Date:
2025-04-18 12:29:21 UTC
From:
To:
Thanks for the prompt response.

I suppose I cannot, since I'm not a DD. If there is still something I
can do, please let me know (with reference links if possible).

Thank you,

#1103510#25
Date:
2025-04-18 12:29:21 UTC
From:
To:
Thanks for the prompt response.

I suppose I cannot, since I'm not a DD. If there is still something I
can do, please let me know (with reference links if possible).

Thank you,

#1103510#28
Date:
2025-04-18 12:29:21 UTC
From:
To:
Thanks for the prompt response.

I suppose I cannot, since I'm not a DD. If there is still something I
can do, please let me know (with reference links if possible).

Thank you,

#1103510#33
Date:
2025-04-18 13:10:39 UTC
From:
To:
Sorry, just came across [1], which explains uploading to Mentors. The
RFS HowTo [2] is where I'd landed first, and I really wish it had a link
to [1] (preferably from the existing text "for example by uploading it
to this site").

I will try uploading it to Mentors.

[1] https://mentors.debian.net/intro-maintainers/
[2] https://mentors.debian.net/sponsors/rfs-howto/

#1103510#38
Date:
2025-04-18 13:10:39 UTC
From:
To:
Sorry, just came across [1], which explains uploading to Mentors. The
RFS HowTo [2] is where I'd landed first, and I really wish it had a link
to [1] (preferably from the existing text "for example by uploading it
to this site").

I will try uploading it to Mentors.

[1] https://mentors.debian.net/intro-maintainers/
[2] https://mentors.debian.net/sponsors/rfs-howto/

#1103510#41
Date:
2025-04-18 13:10:39 UTC
From:
To:
Sorry, just came across [1], which explains uploading to Mentors. The
RFS HowTo [2] is where I'd landed first, and I really wish it had a link
to [1] (preferably from the existing text "for example by uploading it
to this site").

I will try uploading it to Mentors.

[1] https://mentors.debian.net/intro-maintainers/
[2] https://mentors.debian.net/sponsors/rfs-howto/

#1103510#48
Date:
2025-04-18 16:20:47 UTC
From:
To:
To access further information about this package, please visit the
following URL:

   https://mentors.debian.net/package/vara/

Alternatively, you can download the package with 'dget' using this command:

   dget -x
https://mentors.debian.net/debian/pool/main/v/vara/vara_0.1.250414+1.dsc

Changes for the initial release:

  vara (0.1.250414+1) unstable; urgency=low
  .
    Please see the AppStream metadata (in.co.nandakumar.vara.metainfo.xml)
    for the changelog.

Regards,

#1103510#53
Date:
2025-04-18 16:20:47 UTC
From:
To:
To access further information about this package, please visit the
following URL:

   https://mentors.debian.net/package/vara/

Alternatively, you can download the package with 'dget' using this command:

   dget -x
https://mentors.debian.net/debian/pool/main/v/vara/vara_0.1.250414+1.dsc

Changes for the initial release:

  vara (0.1.250414+1) unstable; urgency=low
  .
    Please see the AppStream metadata (in.co.nandakumar.vara.metainfo.xml)
    for the changelog.

Regards,

#1103510#56
Date:
2025-04-18 16:20:47 UTC
From:
To:
To access further information about this package, please visit the
following URL:

   https://mentors.debian.net/package/vara/

Alternatively, you can download the package with 'dget' using this command:

   dget -x
https://mentors.debian.net/debian/pool/main/v/vara/vara_0.1.250414+1.dsc

Changes for the initial release:

  vara (0.1.250414+1) unstable; urgency=low
  .
    Please see the AppStream metadata (in.co.nandakumar.vara.metainfo.xml)
    for the changelog.

Regards,

#1103510#61
Date:
2025-04-18 19:48:37 UTC
From:
To:
On Friday, April 18, 2025 6:10:39 AM Mountain Standard Time Nandakumar Edamana wrote:

Also, you can request access to Salsa without being a DD.  My
recommendation is to use Salsa to host the packaging repository (in
git-buildpackage format) and Mentors to host the request for
sponsorship.

https://lists.debian.org/debian-mentors/2024/09/msg00057.html

#1103510#66
Date:
2025-04-19 02:07:19 UTC
From:
To:
For information about the tests run, see:

https://wiki.debian.org/PhilWyett/DebianMentoring

Test 4 (sbuild): Information only

lintian:

Running lintian...
N:
E: vara source: build-depends-on-build-essential Build-Depends
N:
N:   You depend on the build-essential package, which is only a metapackage
N:   depending on build tools that have to be installed in all build
N:   environments.
N:
N:   Please refer to Relationships between source and binary packages -
N:   Build-Depends, Build-Depends-Indep, Build-Depends-Arch, Build-Conflicts,
N:   Build-Conflicts-Indep, Build-Conflicts-Arch (Section 7.7) in the Debian
N:   Policy Manual for details.
N:
N:   Visibility: error
N:   Show-Always: no
N:   Check: fields/package-relations
N:

The above 'Build-Deoends' is not needed.

N:
W: vara source: debhelper-but-no-misc-depends vara
N:
N:   The source package uses debhelper, but it does not include ${misc:Depends}
N:   in the given binary package's debian/control entry. Any debhelper command
N:   may add dependencies to ${misc:Depends} that are required for the work
N:   that it does, so recommended best practice is to always add
N:   ${misc:Depends} to the dependencies of each binary package if debhelper is
N:   in use.
N:
N:   Please refer to the debhelper(7) manual page for details.
N:
N:   Visibility: warning
N:   Show-Always: no
N:   Check: debhelper
N:

You may wish to add '${misc:Depends}' to the package.

W: vara source: inconsistent-appstream-metadata-license
in.co.nandakumar.vara.metainfo.xml (cc-by-sa-4.0 != gpl-3) [debian/copyright]
N:
N:   The specified AppStream metadata file specifies a metadata_license field
N:   but this does not match its entry (possibly via the Files: * stanza) in
N:   debian/copyright.
N:
N:   Please refer to https://wiki.debian.org/AppStream/Guidelines,
N:   https://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/copyright-format/1.0/, and
N:
https://www.freedesktop.org/software/appstream/docs/chap-Metadata.html#tag-metadata_license
N:   for details.
N:
N:   Visibility: warning
N:   Show-Always: no
N:   Check: debian/copyright/dep5
N:

Research this.

W: vara source: missing-license-paragraph-in-dep5-copyright gpl-3
[debian/copyright:8]
N:
N:   The Files paragraph in the machine readable copyright file references a
N:   license for which no stand-alone License paragraph exists.
N:
N:   Sometimes this tag appears because of incorrect ordering. Stand-alone
N:   License paragraphs must appear *after* all Files paragraphs.
N:
N:   Please refer to
N:   https://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/copyright-format/1.0/ and
N:   Bug#959067 for details.
N:
N:   Visibility: warning
N:   Show-Always: no
N:   Check: debian/copyright/dep5
N:

Research this.

W: vara: no-manual-page [usr/bin/vara]
N:
N:   Each binary in /usr/bin, /usr/sbin, /bin, /sbin or /usr/games should have
N:   a manual page
N:
N:   Note that though the man program has the capability to check for several
N:   program names in the NAMES section, each of these programs should have its
N:   own manual page (a symbolic link to the appropriate manual page is
N:   sufficient) because other manual page viewers such as xman or tkman don't
N:   support this.
N:
N:   If the name of the manual page differs from the binary by case, man may be
N:   able to find it anyway; however, it is still best practice to match the
N:   exact capitalization of the executable in the manual page.
N:
N:   If the manual pages are provided by another package on which this package
N:   depends, Lintian may not be able to determine that manual pages are
N:   available. In this case, after confirming that all binaries do have manual
N:   pages after this package and its dependencies are installed, please add a
N:   Lintian override.
N:
N:   Please refer to Manual pages (Section 12.1) in the Debian Policy Manual
N:   for details.
N:
N:   Visibility: warning
N:   Show-Always: no
N:   Check: documentation/manual
N:   Renamed from: binary-without-manpage

A manual page is good, but not necessary at this time.

W: vara source: no-versioned-debhelper-prerequisite 10
N:
N:   The package either doesn't declare a versioned build dependency on
N:   debhelper or does not declare a versioned build dependency on a new enough
N:   version of debhelper to satisfy the declared compatibility level.
N:
N:   The required version of debhelper is not guaranteed to be satisfied in all
N:   supported releases of Debian and therefore this may lead to a build
N:   failure.
N:
N:   The recommended practice is to always declare an explicit versioned
N:   dependency on debhelper equal to or greater than the compatibility level
N:   used by the package, even if the versioned dependency isn't strictly
N:   necessary. Having a versioned dependency also helps with backports to
N:   older releases and correct builds on partially updated systems.
N:
N:   Packages not using an experimental or beta compatibility level may
N:   alternatively Build-Depend on the debhelper-compat virtual package, for
N:   example:
N:
N:    Build-Depends: debhelper-compat (= 13)
N:
N:   Note if you are using a compat level marked as experimental (such as
N:   compat 12 in debhelper 11.4~) please explicitly override this tag.
N:
N:   Visibility: warning
N:   Show-Always: no
N:   Check: debhelper
N:   Renamed from: package-needs-versioned-debhelper-build-depends
N:   package-lacks-versioned-build-depends-on-debhelper

Remove 'debian/compat' and add 'debhelper-compat (= 13)' to 'Build-Depends' in
'debian/control'.

I: vara: desktop-entry-lacks-keywords-entry
[usr/share/applications/vara.desktop]
N:
N:   This .desktop file is either missing a Keywords entry, or it does not
N:   contain keywords above and beyond those already present in the Name or
N:   GenericName entries.
N:
N:   The Keywords field is intended to show keywords relevant for a .desktop
N:   file.
N:
N:   Desktop files are organized in key-value pairs and are similar to INI
N:   files.
N:
N:   The desktop-file-validate tool in the desktop-file-utils package may be
N:   useful when checking the syntax of desktop entries.
N:
N:   Please refer to
N:
https://specifications.freedesktop.org/desktop-entry-spec/latest/ar01s06.html,
N:   Bug#693918, and
N:   https://wiki.gnome.org/Initiatives/GnomeGoals/DesktopFileKeywords for
N:   details.
N:
N:   Visibility: info
N:   Show-Always: no
N:   Check: menu-format

Research this.

I: vara: hardening-no-bindnow [usr/bin/vara]
N:
N:   This package provides an ELF binary that lacks the "bindnow" linker flag.
N:
N:   This is needed (together with "relro") to make the "Global Offset Table"
N:   (GOT) fully read-only. The bindnow feature trades startup time for
N:   improved security. Please consider enabling this feature or consider
N:   overriding the tag (possibly with a comment about why).
N:
N:   If you use dpkg-buildflags, you may have to add hardening=+bindnow or
N:   hardening=+all to DEB_BUILD_MAINT_OPTIONS.
N:
N:   The relevant compiler flags are set in LDFLAGS.
N:
N:   Please refer to https://wiki.debian.org/Hardening for details.
N:
N:   Visibility: info
N:   Show-Always: no
N:   Check: binaries/hardening

See: https://wiki.debian.org/Hardening

I: vara source: older-source-format 1.0
N:
N:
N:   This package uses an older source format. Please consider migrating
N:   to a more modern format.
N:
N:   The 3.x series of source formats have a number of advantages including
N:   superior compression formats, native patch handling, binary file support,
N:   multiple upstream tarballs, etc.
N:
N:   More information is available here:
N:
N:       https://wiki.debian.org/Projects/DebSrc3.0
N:
N:   Please refer to Bug#884498 and the dpkg-source(1) manual page for details.
N:
N:   Visibility: info
N:   Show-Always: no
N:   Check: debian/source-dir

This package is not only for Debian, so should be non-native.

In 'debian/source/format' chnage text to '3.0 (quilt)'.

I: vara source: out-of-date-standards-version 4.5.1 (released 2020-11-17)
(current is 4.7.2)
N:
N:   The source package refers to a Standards-Version older than the one that
N:   was current at the time the package was created (according to the
N:   timestamp of the latest debian/changelog entry). Please consider updating
N:   the package to current Policy and setting this control field
N:   appropriately.
N:
N:   If the package is already compliant with the current standards, you don't
N:   have to re-upload the package just to adjust the Standards-Version control
N:   field. However, please remember to update this field next time you upload
N:   the package.
N:
N:   See /usr/share/doc/debian-policy/upgrading-checklist.txt.gz in the
N:   debian-policy package for a summary of changes in newer versions of
N:   Policy.
N:
N:   Please refer to
N:   https://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/upgrading-checklist.html for
N:   details.
N:
N:   Visibility: info
N:   Show-Always: no
N:   Check: fields/standards-version

New packages should meet the latest Debian Policy version (4.7.2), see link
below.

https://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/

P: vara source: trailing-whitespace [debian/changelog:7]
N:
N:   This file contains lines with trailing whitespace characters.
N:
N:   Whilst often harmless and unsightly, such extra whitespaces can also cause
N:   tools to interpret the whitespace characters literally. The tool diff(1)
N:   does not like them, either. They are best avoided.
N:
N:   Some of these problems can be hard to track down.
N:
N:   Whitespace at the end of lines may be removed with the following:
N:
N:    $ sed -i -e 's@[[:space:]]*$@@g' debian/control debian/changelog
N:
N:   If you use Emacs, you can also use "M-x wh-cl" (whitespace-cleanup).
N:
N:   However, if you wish to only remove trailing spaces and leave trailing
N:   tabs (eg. for Makefiles), you can use the following code snippet:
N:
N:    $ sed -i -e 's@[ ]*$@@g' debian/rules
N:
N:   To remove empty lines from the end of a file, you can use:
N:
N:    $ sed -i -e :a -e '/^\n*$/{$d;N;};/\n$/ba' debian/rules
N:
N:   Visibility: pedantic
N:   Show-Always: no
N:   Check: debian/trailing-whitespace
N:   Renamed from: file-contains-trailing-whitespace
N:

Remove trailing whitespace from file.

E: Lintian run failed (runtime error)

Summary
=======

For a new package you need to file an Intent To Package (ITP) bug and close it
in the 'debian/changelog' like in the example below. The 'debian/changelog' is
for changes related to the Debian package only and should be a file anyone can
quickly refer to for changes made.

vara (0.1.250414+1) unstable; urgency=loq

  * Initial release. (Closes: #IPT_BUG_NUMBER)

https://wiki.debian.org/ITP

Examples of ITP bugs.

https://www.debian.org/devel/wnpp/being_packaged

You should create a 'debian/watch' file so Debian can search for new upstream
versions of your package. ALso an easy way to pull the file when needed 'uscan'.

Package is looking promising with a few things to work on.

Do not feel like you have to fix all at once. Take bites at it and do uploads
and we can check as we go along. :-)

#1103510#69
Date:
2025-04-19 02:07:19 UTC
From:
To:
For information about the tests run, see:

https://wiki.debian.org/PhilWyett/DebianMentoring

Test 4 (sbuild): Information only

lintian:

Running lintian...
N:
E: vara source: build-depends-on-build-essential Build-Depends
N:
N:   You depend on the build-essential package, which is only a metapackage
N:   depending on build tools that have to be installed in all build
N:   environments.
N:
N:   Please refer to Relationships between source and binary packages -
N:   Build-Depends, Build-Depends-Indep, Build-Depends-Arch, Build-Conflicts,
N:   Build-Conflicts-Indep, Build-Conflicts-Arch (Section 7.7) in the Debian
N:   Policy Manual for details.
N:
N:   Visibility: error
N:   Show-Always: no
N:   Check: fields/package-relations
N:

The above 'Build-Deoends' is not needed.

N:
W: vara source: debhelper-but-no-misc-depends vara
N:
N:   The source package uses debhelper, but it does not include ${misc:Depends}
N:   in the given binary package's debian/control entry. Any debhelper command
N:   may add dependencies to ${misc:Depends} that are required for the work
N:   that it does, so recommended best practice is to always add
N:   ${misc:Depends} to the dependencies of each binary package if debhelper is
N:   in use.
N:
N:   Please refer to the debhelper(7) manual page for details.
N:
N:   Visibility: warning
N:   Show-Always: no
N:   Check: debhelper
N:

You may wish to add '${misc:Depends}' to the package.

W: vara source: inconsistent-appstream-metadata-license
in.co.nandakumar.vara.metainfo.xml (cc-by-sa-4.0 != gpl-3) [debian/copyright]
N:
N:   The specified AppStream metadata file specifies a metadata_license field
N:   but this does not match its entry (possibly via the Files: * stanza) in
N:   debian/copyright.
N:
N:   Please refer to https://wiki.debian.org/AppStream/Guidelines,
N:   https://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/copyright-format/1.0/, and
N:
https://www.freedesktop.org/software/appstream/docs/chap-Metadata.html#tag-metadata_license
N:   for details.
N:
N:   Visibility: warning
N:   Show-Always: no
N:   Check: debian/copyright/dep5
N:

Research this.

W: vara source: missing-license-paragraph-in-dep5-copyright gpl-3
[debian/copyright:8]
N:
N:   The Files paragraph in the machine readable copyright file references a
N:   license for which no stand-alone License paragraph exists.
N:
N:   Sometimes this tag appears because of incorrect ordering. Stand-alone
N:   License paragraphs must appear *after* all Files paragraphs.
N:
N:   Please refer to
N:   https://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/copyright-format/1.0/ and
N:   Bug#959067 for details.
N:
N:   Visibility: warning
N:   Show-Always: no
N:   Check: debian/copyright/dep5
N:

Research this.

W: vara: no-manual-page [usr/bin/vara]
N:
N:   Each binary in /usr/bin, /usr/sbin, /bin, /sbin or /usr/games should have
N:   a manual page
N:
N:   Note that though the man program has the capability to check for several
N:   program names in the NAMES section, each of these programs should have its
N:   own manual page (a symbolic link to the appropriate manual page is
N:   sufficient) because other manual page viewers such as xman or tkman don't
N:   support this.
N:
N:   If the name of the manual page differs from the binary by case, man may be
N:   able to find it anyway; however, it is still best practice to match the
N:   exact capitalization of the executable in the manual page.
N:
N:   If the manual pages are provided by another package on which this package
N:   depends, Lintian may not be able to determine that manual pages are
N:   available. In this case, after confirming that all binaries do have manual
N:   pages after this package and its dependencies are installed, please add a
N:   Lintian override.
N:
N:   Please refer to Manual pages (Section 12.1) in the Debian Policy Manual
N:   for details.
N:
N:   Visibility: warning
N:   Show-Always: no
N:   Check: documentation/manual
N:   Renamed from: binary-without-manpage

A manual page is good, but not necessary at this time.

W: vara source: no-versioned-debhelper-prerequisite 10
N:
N:   The package either doesn't declare a versioned build dependency on
N:   debhelper or does not declare a versioned build dependency on a new enough
N:   version of debhelper to satisfy the declared compatibility level.
N:
N:   The required version of debhelper is not guaranteed to be satisfied in all
N:   supported releases of Debian and therefore this may lead to a build
N:   failure.
N:
N:   The recommended practice is to always declare an explicit versioned
N:   dependency on debhelper equal to or greater than the compatibility level
N:   used by the package, even if the versioned dependency isn't strictly
N:   necessary. Having a versioned dependency also helps with backports to
N:   older releases and correct builds on partially updated systems.
N:
N:   Packages not using an experimental or beta compatibility level may
N:   alternatively Build-Depend on the debhelper-compat virtual package, for
N:   example:
N:
N:    Build-Depends: debhelper-compat (= 13)
N:
N:   Note if you are using a compat level marked as experimental (such as
N:   compat 12 in debhelper 11.4~) please explicitly override this tag.
N:
N:   Visibility: warning
N:   Show-Always: no
N:   Check: debhelper
N:   Renamed from: package-needs-versioned-debhelper-build-depends
N:   package-lacks-versioned-build-depends-on-debhelper

Remove 'debian/compat' and add 'debhelper-compat (= 13)' to 'Build-Depends' in
'debian/control'.

I: vara: desktop-entry-lacks-keywords-entry
[usr/share/applications/vara.desktop]
N:
N:   This .desktop file is either missing a Keywords entry, or it does not
N:   contain keywords above and beyond those already present in the Name or
N:   GenericName entries.
N:
N:   The Keywords field is intended to show keywords relevant for a .desktop
N:   file.
N:
N:   Desktop files are organized in key-value pairs and are similar to INI
N:   files.
N:
N:   The desktop-file-validate tool in the desktop-file-utils package may be
N:   useful when checking the syntax of desktop entries.
N:
N:   Please refer to
N:
https://specifications.freedesktop.org/desktop-entry-spec/latest/ar01s06.html,
N:   Bug#693918, and
N:   https://wiki.gnome.org/Initiatives/GnomeGoals/DesktopFileKeywords for
N:   details.
N:
N:   Visibility: info
N:   Show-Always: no
N:   Check: menu-format

Research this.

I: vara: hardening-no-bindnow [usr/bin/vara]
N:
N:   This package provides an ELF binary that lacks the "bindnow" linker flag.
N:
N:   This is needed (together with "relro") to make the "Global Offset Table"
N:   (GOT) fully read-only. The bindnow feature trades startup time for
N:   improved security. Please consider enabling this feature or consider
N:   overriding the tag (possibly with a comment about why).
N:
N:   If you use dpkg-buildflags, you may have to add hardening=+bindnow or
N:   hardening=+all to DEB_BUILD_MAINT_OPTIONS.
N:
N:   The relevant compiler flags are set in LDFLAGS.
N:
N:   Please refer to https://wiki.debian.org/Hardening for details.
N:
N:   Visibility: info
N:   Show-Always: no
N:   Check: binaries/hardening

See: https://wiki.debian.org/Hardening

I: vara source: older-source-format 1.0
N:
N:
N:   This package uses an older source format. Please consider migrating
N:   to a more modern format.
N:
N:   The 3.x series of source formats have a number of advantages including
N:   superior compression formats, native patch handling, binary file support,
N:   multiple upstream tarballs, etc.
N:
N:   More information is available here:
N:
N:       https://wiki.debian.org/Projects/DebSrc3.0
N:
N:   Please refer to Bug#884498 and the dpkg-source(1) manual page for details.
N:
N:   Visibility: info
N:   Show-Always: no
N:   Check: debian/source-dir

This package is not only for Debian, so should be non-native.

In 'debian/source/format' chnage text to '3.0 (quilt)'.

I: vara source: out-of-date-standards-version 4.5.1 (released 2020-11-17)
(current is 4.7.2)
N:
N:   The source package refers to a Standards-Version older than the one that
N:   was current at the time the package was created (according to the
N:   timestamp of the latest debian/changelog entry). Please consider updating
N:   the package to current Policy and setting this control field
N:   appropriately.
N:
N:   If the package is already compliant with the current standards, you don't
N:   have to re-upload the package just to adjust the Standards-Version control
N:   field. However, please remember to update this field next time you upload
N:   the package.
N:
N:   See /usr/share/doc/debian-policy/upgrading-checklist.txt.gz in the
N:   debian-policy package for a summary of changes in newer versions of
N:   Policy.
N:
N:   Please refer to
N:   https://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/upgrading-checklist.html for
N:   details.
N:
N:   Visibility: info
N:   Show-Always: no
N:   Check: fields/standards-version

New packages should meet the latest Debian Policy version (4.7.2), see link
below.

https://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/

P: vara source: trailing-whitespace [debian/changelog:7]
N:
N:   This file contains lines with trailing whitespace characters.
N:
N:   Whilst often harmless and unsightly, such extra whitespaces can also cause
N:   tools to interpret the whitespace characters literally. The tool diff(1)
N:   does not like them, either. They are best avoided.
N:
N:   Some of these problems can be hard to track down.
N:
N:   Whitespace at the end of lines may be removed with the following:
N:
N:    $ sed -i -e 's@[[:space:]]*$@@g' debian/control debian/changelog
N:
N:   If you use Emacs, you can also use "M-x wh-cl" (whitespace-cleanup).
N:
N:   However, if you wish to only remove trailing spaces and leave trailing
N:   tabs (eg. for Makefiles), you can use the following code snippet:
N:
N:    $ sed -i -e 's@[ ]*$@@g' debian/rules
N:
N:   To remove empty lines from the end of a file, you can use:
N:
N:    $ sed -i -e :a -e '/^\n*$/{$d;N;};/\n$/ba' debian/rules
N:
N:   Visibility: pedantic
N:   Show-Always: no
N:   Check: debian/trailing-whitespace
N:   Renamed from: file-contains-trailing-whitespace
N:

Remove trailing whitespace from file.

E: Lintian run failed (runtime error)

Summary
=======

For a new package you need to file an Intent To Package (ITP) bug and close it
in the 'debian/changelog' like in the example below. The 'debian/changelog' is
for changes related to the Debian package only and should be a file anyone can
quickly refer to for changes made.

vara (0.1.250414+1) unstable; urgency=loq

  * Initial release. (Closes: #IPT_BUG_NUMBER)

https://wiki.debian.org/ITP

Examples of ITP bugs.

https://www.debian.org/devel/wnpp/being_packaged

You should create a 'debian/watch' file so Debian can search for new upstream
versions of your package. ALso an easy way to pull the file when needed 'uscan'.

Package is looking promising with a few things to work on.

Do not feel like you have to fix all at once. Take bites at it and do uploads
and we can check as we go along. :-)

#1103510#74
Date:
2025-04-19 02:40:27 UTC
From:
To:
Thanks a lot for the detailed and friendly review. The lintian version I was
using didn't report most of those issues; will try to fix as many as
possible.

Quick question: I keep the changes for Debian packaging as part of my
primary
tree, and since the program itself is not changed since the last
release, adding
a `+n` to the upstream version is how I track these changes (hence the
`+1` in
`0.1.250414+1`). So, naturally, my fixes for this review will be versioned
something like `0.1.250414+2`, and that's what I'll be uploading using
`dput`.
Is that okay?

Thank you,

#1103510#79
Date:
2025-04-19 02:51:08 UTC
From:
To:
#1103510#84
Date:
2025-04-19 02:49:37 UTC
From:
To:
Yes, do not rush. Take your time. This package cannot now get into Debian 13, so
we can work slow and get everything looking good.

Do you use git to store and track changes? Is it a public one such as gitlab or
github etc.?

For debian changes we use '-1' etc. '-1' for a new package to debian or new
upstream release. '-2' etc. when there are further minor changes to the package
after.

#1103510#89
Date:
2025-04-19 19:54:18 UTC
From:
To:
On Friday, April 18, 2025 7:40:27 PM Mountain Standard Time Nandakumar Edamana wrote:

As an upstream developer of software in Debian, my personal
recommendation is that you don’t do the Debian packaging in your
upstream repository.

I host my own git instance with my upstream code here:

https://gitweb.stoutner.com/?p=PrivacyBrowserPC.git;a=summary

I have a Salsa repository with the Debian packaging here:

https://salsa.debian.org/soren/privacybrowser

There are a lot of advantages to hosting the packaging in Salsa,
including Salsa CI.

https://salsa.debian.org/salsa-ci-team/pipeline

Which produces the following:

https://salsa.debian.org/soren/privacybrowser/-/pipelines/852997

I also use the git-buildpackage structure for my Salsa repository.
Explaining all of what that means is beyond the scope of this email,
but there is a brief explanation of how that makes my life easier
here:

https://lists.debian.org/debian-mentors/2024/09/msg00057.html

#1103510#94
Date:
2025-04-20 02:28:47 UTC
From:
To:
Thanks a lot for this advice. I like this separation as well, but
originally kept them together because I release standalone deb files as
well. The Debian packaging workflow that I have was designed to serve
this purpose, not uploading it to official Debian repos. Now that I have
an ITP, I'll consider moving to Salsa-based packaging if it isn't too
disruptive.

(The deb files I mentioned are for different versions of Ubuntu, built
on the corresponding ones. I'm used to the PPA workflow and Vara is
already on the Snap store, but there are users who expect it to be
delivered as deb files.)

#1103510#99
Date:
2025-04-20 02:39:56 UTC
From:
To:
I do use git, but the repo is not public (due to the presence of a
custom language, scripts that are tied to my website, etc.). (For future
readers who land here without context: Vara is Free Software and all the
necessary sources are released under GNU GPL v3).

#1103510#104
Date:
2025-04-20 10:39:41 UTC
From:
To:
Would you be able to import your package with no extras into Salsa?