• Apt/Dpkg: Beyond the basic use of installing programs, apt and dpkg have many features that are useful for packaging.
  • apt-cache dump – lists every package in the cache. This command is especially helpful in combination with a grep pipe such as apt-cache dump | grep foo to search for packages whose names or dependencies include “foo”.
  • apt-cache policy – lists the repositories (main/restricted/universe/multiverse) in which a package exists.
  • apt-cache show – displays information about a binary package.
  • apt-cache showsrc – displays information about a source package.
  • apt-cache rdepends – shows reverse dependencies for a package (which packages require the queried one.
  • dpkg -S – lists the binary package to which a particular file belongs.
  • dpkg -l – lists currently installed packages. This is similar to apt-cache dump but for installed packages.
  • dpkg -c – lists the contents of a binary package. It is useful for ensuring that files are installed to the right places.
  • dpkg -f – shows the control file for a binary package. It is useful for ensuring that the dependencies are correct.
  • grep-dctrl – searches for specialized information in packages. It is a specific use of the grep package (but not installed by default).

La guía para hacer paquetes para ubuntu y debian, aquí.

Lucid Lynx será el nuevo Ubuntu. Sera LTS (Long term support). Algunas notas a considerar de su ciclo de desarrollo:

“Automatic syncs from Debian will begin shortly. Because Lucid is an LTS,
autosyncing will track the Debian testing series for this cycle, rather
than Debian unstable as we normally do.” – UWN#167

(UWN = Ubuntu Weekly newsletter).

Testing es MUCHO mas estable que unstable. Es como ya todo digerido para el equipo de QA de Debian, no como unstable que es mas como de desarrolladores. Cuando un paquete llega a Testing, tiene cierta estabilidad, o al menos “ya compila”.

El hecho de que Ubuntu se alimente de testing hace pensar que ahora van a gastar menos en el desarrollo/trabajo de los paquetes en si, porque ya tienen algo mas “maduro” en testing. No se como impacta esto en las contribuciones con Debian. Basicamente, siento que dichas contribuciones seran menos en codigo, mas en bug reports.

UPDATE de “anónimo”: Todos los paquetes que entran a Unstable compilan, no sólo los de Testing. Más bien el “ya compila” es en Unstable, no en Testing. Los paquetes caen a Testing luego de un periodo de gracia de alrededor de dos semanas para que no provoquen bugs críticos.

Look at this, it’s pretty awesome:


------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Debian Project http://www.debian.org/
Debian pushes development of kFreeBSD port press@debian.org
October 7th, 2009 http://www.debian.org/News/2009/20091007
------------------------------------------------------------------------

I worked with FreeBSD several years, when I was working at IMATEM.