Package maintenance guildelines

This guide explains how package maintenance is done for packages contributed to the VectorLinux Buildbot system. The following guidelines apply to all package maintenance performed to every package in the database.

General Guidelines

  • All package revisions Must increase the build value on the updated package. This will help slapt-get detect the available update on all end-user’s machines.
  • All version bumps (increases) MUST reset the BUILD value back to 1
  • All SlackBuilds must be tested by the contributor before they are submitted.

How to maintain a package

When performing maintenance on a package, always follow these guidelines to make sure your contributions are in line with the rest of the development efforts.

  • Change to the directory holding the clone of your repository. This is the location where you ran git clone http://bitbucket.org/VLCore/vlxx. The slackbuilds can be found in the var/vabs directory of each reposiroty.
  • Locate the application(s) you want to maintain or update, and open the SlackBuild with your favorite text editor.
  • Make your changes to the build script and save it (with the same name). Changes should include any changes in package version, build number, URL to source tarball direct download, or other necessary build procedure changes.
  • Run the script to test it’s basic functionality.
  • When you have verified that the script runs and does not return an error, then you commit your changes, and push them to the online git repository.

Note

ALWAYS run git pull before you decide to modify any SlackBuild and before you run git commit. This will avoid conflicts and makes for a good workflow betweek many contributors at the same time for the same repository.

Typical maintenance example

A typical package maintenance procedure would be necessary when a new version of an application is released from upstream. At that time, the packager would need to do the following.

  • git clone https://bitbucket.org/VLCore/vl71.git
  • cd vl71/var/vabs/
  • Find the SlackBuild in the repository that builds the application that was just released.
  • Edit the SlackBuild to update its VERSION value
  • Reset the BUILD value back to 1 (with every version bump, the release should be reset back to 1)
  • Make sure the LINK value can download the new version of the source tarball.
  • git pull origin master
  • git add your_modified.SlackBuild
  • git commit -m 'your commit message goes here'
  • git push origin master

You are done.

FAQ

Q:
If I have to test the SlackBuild myself, why can’t I just upload package instead of the SlackBuild?
A:
Contributing a SlackBuild results in multiple packages for different architectures created from your SlackBuild. Uploading a package only contributes to your current system.