#632527 Please document patch feature better

Package:
alien
Source:
alien
Submitter:
Thomas Hood
Date:
2011-07-03 21:39:13 UTC
Severity:
minor
#632527#5
Date:
2011-07-03 09:28:29 UTC
From:
To:
Converting the .tar.gz works fine:


$ fakeroot alien SynologyAssistant-3.1-1593.tar.gz
synologyassistant_3.1-2_all.deb generated


But the conversion fails if a patch file is included.  For
illustration purposes in the following I just create an empty patch
file with a name that causes alien to pick it up and apply it.


# :> /var/lib/alien/synologyassistant_3.1.diff
# gzip /var/lib/alien/synologyassistant_3.1.diff
# ls -l /var/lib/alien/synologyassistant_3.1.diff.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 47 2011-07-03 11:10
/var/lib/alien/synologyassistant_3.1.diff.gz
# exit
$ fakeroot alien SynologyAssistant-3.1-1593.tar.gz
chmod: cannot access `SynologyAssistant-3.1/debian/rules': No such
file or directory
Package build failed; could not run generated debian/rules file.


Here it is again with "-v".


$ fakeroot alien -v SynologyAssistant-3.1-1593.tar.gz
	ls -l SynologyAssistant-3.1-1593.tar.gz
	tar Oxf SynologyAssistant-3.1-1593.tar.gz install/predoinst.sh 2>/dev/null
	tar Oxf SynologyAssistant-3.1-1593.tar.gz install/delete.sh 2>/dev/null
	tar Oxf SynologyAssistant-3.1-1593.tar.gz install/doinst.sh 2>/dev/null
	tar Oxf SynologyAssistant-3.1-1593.tar.gz install/predelete.sh 2>/dev/null
	mkdir SynologyAssistant-3.1
	chmod 755 SynologyAssistant-3.1
	cd SynologyAssistant-3.1; tar xpf
/home/jdthood/Desktop/SynologyAssistant-3.1-1593.tar.gz
	cd SynologyAssistant-3.1; rm -rf ./install
	mkdir SynologyAssistant-3.1/debian
	zcat -f /var/lib/alien/synologyassistant_3.1.diff.gz | (cd
SynologyAssistant-3.1; patch -p1)
	find SynologyAssistant-3.1 -name "*.rej"
	find . -name *.orig -exec rm {} ;
	chmod 755 SynologyAssistant-3.1/debian/rules
chmod: cannot access `SynologyAssistant-3.1/debian/rules': No such
file or directory
	debian/rules binary 2>&1
Package build failed; could not run generated debian/rules file.
	find SynologyAssistant-3.1 -type d -exec chmod 755 {} ;
	rm -rf SynologyAssistant-3.1
#632527#10
Date:
2011-07-03 15:18:49 UTC
From:
To:
Thomas Hood wrote:

Patch files have to contain a complete debianization of the package.

It's an unused mechanism anyway, basically.
#632527#15
Date:
2011-07-03 21:37:02 UTC
From:
To:
package alien
reopen 632527
severity 632527 minor
retitle 632527 Please document patch feature better

Thanks for the information.  Reopening to request:

Please document somewhere (preferably in the man page) the
restrictions on patches, as described earlier in this report log.

This could forestall the filing of more bug reports like this one.