Debian Bug report logs - #15946
dpkg: packaging manual: time stamps should be preserved

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Message #5 received at submit@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Christian Schwarz <schwarz@monet.m.isar.de>

To: Debian Bugs <submit@bugs.debian.org>

Subject: dpkg: packaging manual: time stamps should be preserved

Date: Sun, 14 Dec 1997 21:55:47 +0100 (CET)

Package: dpkg
Version: 1.4.0.19

The following has been approved with Policy Weekly posting #4. Please
include it the Packaging Manual. 

BTW, shouldn't the Packaging Manual be distributed via dpkg-dev, instead
of dpkg? I mean, not all people who use dpkg will need this manual.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.


Thanks,

Chris

-----------cut-here-------------
Topic 7: Leaving time stamps unmodified

STATE: APPROVED

Most of our packages `touch' files in the packaging process (that is, the
modification time of the files gets reset to the current time). It would
be nice if the modification time of the upstream source would be
preserved. 

For example, you could recognize that some documentation is very old by
looking at the modification time. (Of course, this only works if the
upstream maintainer kept the original modification time.)

According to a recent discussion on debian-policy on this subject we
consider this topic as `nice-to-have', but without priority. Maintainers
are encouraged to keep the original time stamps, though.

I suggest that an appropriate note is added to the Packaging Manual. 
-----------cut-here-------------

--                 Christian Schwarz
                    schwarz@monet.m.isar.de, schwarz@schwarz-online.com,
Don't know Perl?     schwarz@debian.org, schwarz@mathematik.tu-muenchen.de
      
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