Lex Spoon wrote:
> On Apr 19, 2009, at 4:25 AM, Bert Freudenberg wrote:
>> I'm cc'ing a few of the people I know worked on DEB packages before.
>> Guys - what do you think of the idea to have a mailing list
>> specifically for packaging issues? Here is my initial post explaining
>> the motivation:
>>
>> http://lists.squeakfoundation.org/pipermail/squeak-dev/2009-April/135551.html
>>
> 
> Two things.
> 
> First, there is an abundance of packaging efforts, but the one Matej
> maintains is the most developed.  In the short term, I strongly
> recommend that the web team indicate these as the "main" deb files to
> use for Debian.  I believe the Ubuntu project does include its own
> Squeak packages; I think that's a mistake, but it's up to them, and
> theirs should be indicated on the Squeak web pages as well.  Similarly,
> I would think Debian itself of all groups should use Matej's packages.
> 
> Second, many people underestimate how well developed that package set
> really is.  They reflect multiple maintainers' work:  originally they
> were made by Ian and Marcus, I picked up maintenance of them later, and
> now Matej is maintaining them.  To contrast, simply making installable
> .deb's is just the start of a long process.  Many people have made that
> start, and they confuse matters when they post about it as if it hasn't
> been done many times before. If you want really good packages, you have
> to go from there and refine all the rough edges.
> 
> To give one example, the package layout itself takes some consideration,
> if you want image and sources files to be installed independently and
> multiply:
> 
> http://ftp.squeak.org/debian/squeak-on-debian.pdf

Oops, I have notice a small error in the figure. `squeak-plugin' does
not depend on `squeak-image-gz' but on `squeak-vm'. New version of the
figure:
http://altair.sk/uploads/tmp/squeak-on-debian.pdf
I would upload the correction to ftp.squeak.org, but I do not have
access to it now.

> 
> A related issue is that the "squeak" wrapper script .  The one in
> Matej's packages has had upwards of 10 hours of discussion and
> development, much of the goal of which is work harmoniously with the
> above packaging layout:
> 
> http://wiki.squeak.org/squeak/5643
> 
> Another issue is integration with desktop menu item systems, so that
> "Squeak" is on the various Start menus.  There are various menu systems
> around, and it takes some time to get it working for all of them.  Each
> of these items is modest, but it adds up.  It would be a terrible waste
> of effort, and no service to Squeak's users, to start over from scratch.
> 
> 
> -Lex
>