If you are reading this from a Debian source package, you can stop now;
this package should build normally after extracting with dpkg-source -x.
The rest of this file gives some hints about generating source packages
from the packaging git repository.
This repository maintains patches to upstream source using gbp-pq. These
patches are serialized to debian/patches/.
In order to modify an existing patch, simply run “gbp pq import”. This will
create a local branch with the commits that were used to create the patches.
Edit or amend the commits as necessary.
In order to create a new patch, switch to the patch using “gbp pq import” as
before. If a patch file exists, use “gbp pg apply --topic={upstream,debian}
patchfile” to apply the patch (works like “git am”). If the patch is intended
to be upstreamed, it should be applied before any Debian-specific patches and
use the "upstream" topic. Alternatively, if the patch is not intended to be
upstreamed, it should use the "debian" topic and be applied after any upstream
patches.
When updating to a new version of upstream code, the patches need to be rebased
on the new upstream code. The process is
* Create the patch-queue branch -- gbp pq import
* Switch back to the packaging branch -- gbp pq switch
* Merge the upstream tag -- git merge vX.Y.ZZZZ
* Rebase the patches -- gbp pq rebase
* Make any adjustments/fixups, as necessary
* Switch back to the packaging branch -- gbp pq switch
* Export the patches -- gbp pq export
Whenever the patch queue branch is modified, those changes need to be exported
back to the packaging branch. “gbp pq switch” will change from the patch queue
branch to the packaging branch. At that point, “gbp pq export” will update
debian/patches/ with the current state of the patch queue. This needs to be
commited just like any other change.
There are hooks setup in the git repo to avoid pushing the patch queue
branches, but it's also wise to remove the local branch when done with the
changes. The repository's configuration is set to delete the branch
automatically after running “gbp pq export” in order to help enforce this.
