Hi,
Recently, I was made aware of the existence of the ubuntu-policy package
[1], which contains the Ubuntu equivalent of the Debian Policy [2]
(unlike the Debian version, I don't think the Ubuntu Policy is published
anywhere on the web, i.e. it only exists in the linked package).
The Ubuntu Policy (which is derived from and largely identical to the
Debian one) has not seen any updates since 2009. This has been pointed
out in a bug [3] filed in 2011 already.
Context: A PR that aims to update/improve some language about the Ubuntu
Archive [4] in the Ubuntu Project docs led to a suggestion that the text
in ubuntu-policy should be updated, too.
Given the Ubuntu version of the policy has not been updated for so long,
and the fact that the Debian version has moved on considerably in the
meantime, I'm wondering whether ubuntu-policy is needed (or should
exist) in its current form.
The neglect would seem to imply that its existence and/or actual
content is not relevant or needed for the Ubuntu project.
Another possibility (a more likely one I'd venture) is that the Ubuntu
parts of the Policy have not changed (much), i.e. are still relevant and
authoritative. But no one felt strongly enough about the package to
bring the Debian parts up to date with the Debian counterpart.
Either way, I'd argue that the package as it is is not very useful.
Bringing it up to date with Debian would be a pain (not just because of
the content itself but also because Debian switched to a different build
and publication system for the content in the meantime).
I'd suggest choosing one of the following two options:
* Removing the package and publishing relevant (i.e. Ubuntu-specific)
parts of the content in the Ubuntu Project docs [5] (possibly
gatekeeping any changes to the content similarly to the way we handled
SRU, MIR, Board, and other 'sensitive' docs).
* Or (if it was deemed useful to keep the package and have such
'offline' version) publishing the Ubuntu parts of the policy in the
Ubuntu Project docs and sourcing the content for the ubuntu-policy
package from there.
This would put the authoritative content in the same place with other
project docs and keep the package around, but eliminate the burden of
keeping it up-to-date with the Debian Policy (well, no one has been
shouldering that burden for the past 15+ years, but that's not a good
reason to leave it rotting).
What do you think?
Robert
[1] https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubuntu-policy/
[2] https://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/
[3] https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubuntu-policy/+bug/817264
[4] https://github.com/ubuntu/ubuntu-project-docs/pull/309
[5] https://documentation.ubuntu.com/project/
