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Details about package vkquake

Name: vkquake
Uploader: John Rowley <dpkg@johnrowley.me> (Debian QA page)
Description: vkquake - Vulkan Quake port based on QuakeSpasm

Package uploads

Upload #2

Information

Version: 1.35.0+dfsg-1
Uploaded: 2026-07-30 17:07
Source package: vkquake_1.35.0+dfsg-1.dsc
Distribution: unstable
Section: games
Priority:
Homepage: https://github.com/Novum/vkquake
Closes bugs: #1142481

Changelog

 vkquake (1.35.0+dfsg-1) unstable; urgency=low
 .
   * Initial release. Closes: #1142481

QA information

Comments

  1. This is a quick source-only review (I haven't built the package).

In general: very well done. Especially for a first package.

d/control: «This package requires asset files from the original Quake game.» Will it not work with other packs?

d/copyright: Hard-wrap the licences. You can find ready-made examples to copy and paste using https://codesearch.debian.net/search?q=Expat+path%3Adebian%2Fcopyright&literal=1

d/copyright: For GPL2+, change the dot before the last paragraph to `Comment:` ("On Debian systems"... is not part of the license)

d/rules: `export DEB_BUILD_MAINT_OPTIONS = reproducible=-timeless`. That's an old workaround, it should not be needed in modern packages. Are you sure this is needed? It should not. The build system should support SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH (that fixes the date to a reproducible date, i.e. the last date in the changelog). If that is not the case, the build system should be patched.

d/patches/000-reproducible.patch: as noted about, this should not be needed. __TIME__ & Co should get the right value. If that is not the case, you should rather patch the build system. me and the folks at #reproducible-builds will be happy to help.

d/patches/000-reproducible.patch: Also, it is not (modern) DEP-3 compliant. You should use `gbp pq switch` and `gbp pq export` to generate the patch (it generates patches from git commits outside the debian/ dir, but it does not work with... overlay=True. Welcome to Debian.)

d/upstream/metadata: Add "Archive: GitHub". This enabled some smart auto-detections in uscan.

d/vkquake.dirs (+.lintian-overrides): I don't think this is needed in this package. The /usr/lib/quake will be created as needed by `update-alternatives`, won't it?

d/vkquake.install: `obj-x86_64-linux-gnu/vkquake`. This must be arch independent (or you must change d/control to build only on amd64).
    Needs work Gioele Barabucci at July 30, 2026, 8:04 p.m.

Upload #1

Information

Version: 1.35.0+dfsg-1
Uploaded: 2026-07-30 16:06
Source package: vkquake_1.35.0+dfsg-1.dsc
Distribution: unstable
Section: games
Priority:
Homepage: https://github.com/Novum/vkquake
Closes bugs: #1142481

Changelog

 vkquake (1.35.0+dfsg-1) unstable; urgency=low
 .
   * Initial release. Closes: #1142481

QA information

Comments

  1. Hi! thank you for working on vkQuake :-)

unsolicited advise: i'm not convinced that the .desktop file is useful. As you wrote in README.Debian, command line option have to by supplied by the user; in a typical DesktopEnv when the user launch vkquake it will only display a cryptic stacktrace. Other quake-engine package (darkplaces, quakespasm, ezquake) do not provide a .desktop file either, it is provide by the 'quake' package (alongside with other niceties)
    Sébastien Noel at July 30, 2026, 4:50 p.m. 
  2. Thanks! I appreciate you taking the time to review. :)

Very valid point. The included launcher will work well if the user took the time to read the README.Debian file and place the assets into ~/.vkquake, but yeah, the flow you mentioned is a lot more Debian native and better integrated into the distro. I actually already uploaded a new package version with a tweaked README to mention 'quake' and 'game-data-packager', but maybe I should remove the included launcher and change the wording again to put even more emphasis on doing things this way...
    Needs work John Rowley at July 30, 2026, 5:27 p.m.