[gentoo-dev] Begging notice: please mark your packages as ALLARCHES

[Sam James]

Hi,

Please mark your package as ALLARCHES if at all possible.

The <stabilize-allarches/> metadata.xml tag indicates to arch teams
that the package is architecture independent and therefore testing on one
architecture is sufficient.

You can read more in the devmanual:
https://devmanual.gentoo.org/keywording/#simultaneous-stabilization-on-all-architectures.

We should do this even if your package is pure ~arch to simplify
matters if it becomes a dependency or included in a stable request in future.

It only takes a few minutes to check if your package is compiling anything
or installing e.g. ELF files but can save arch teams a lot of time.

Proactively doing this is a huge help and I’d be really grateful if maintainers
could take the time to do this.

Generally, unless the package seems somehow special, I wouldn’t
restrict yourself to marking only your own packages ALLARCHES either.

Tips:
1) If you don’t know, ask somebody! Email me or ask in e.g. #gentoo-dev on IRC.

2) Python packages are generally ALLARCHES, see the wiki:
https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Project:Python#ALLARCHES

3) Perl packages don’t count. Technically, some COULD, but due to
prominent usage of e.g. unpack() throughout the ecosystem, it’s best
not to risk it for now. We may find a better way to check for problematic
functions in future.

4) graaff has advised that Ruby is in a similar situation. Far too often
both Perl and Ruby end up exposing system internals.

Thanks!
Sam