[Bug 1721838] Re: dch --release does not defaulted to previous released distribution

[Lars Kruse]

The specific problem here is the wrong documentation of the behavior in
the manpage:

```
--release
Finalize  the  changelog for a release.  Update the changelog timestamp. If the distribution is set to UNRELEASED, change it to the distribu-
tion from the previous changelog entry (or another distribution as specified by --distribution).  If there are no previous changelog  entries
and  an  explicit  distribution  has not been specified, unstable will be used (or the name of the current development release when run under
Ubuntu).
```

The last sentence ("If there are no previous changelog entries ...") is
wrong, since under Ubuntu the "current development release" is used,
even if previous changelog entries exist (e.g. for "unstable").

Thus at the moment reading the source is the only option for determining
the behavior of the distribution resolution. A fix for the wrong
description in the man page would be very helpful!

PS: Personally I refrained from doing this work myself, since the
current implementation feels really questionable: Ubuntu users are
exposed to an incompatible implementation of "dch" and there is no way
to disable this Ubuntu-specific behavior - neither locally nor for
specific projects. This is not beautiful :(

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1721838

Title:
  dch --release does not defaulted to previous released distribution

Status in devscripts package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  On Xenial, trying to release a package targeted for zesty:

  $ dpkg-query -W devscripts
  devscripts	2.16.2ubuntu3


  info dch says:
         --release, -r
                Finalize the changelog for  a  release.   Update  the  changelog
                timestamp.  If  the distribution is set to UNRELEASED, change it
                to the  distribution  from  the  previous  changelog  entry  (or
                another  distribution as specified by --distribution).


  Yet on Ubuntu Xenial if I dch --release on a product where
  debian/changelog contains changelogs referencing zesty, my resulting
  debian/changelog diff still is set to xenial


  $ head -n 10 debian/changelog 
  curtin (0.1.0~bzr532-0ubuntu1~17.04.1ubuntu1) UNRELEASED; urgency=medium

    * test dch --release

   -- Chad Smith <chad.smith at canonical.com>  Fri, 06 Oct 2017 11:44:36
  -0600

  curtin (0.1.0~bzr532-0ubuntu1~17.04.1) zesty; urgency=medium

    * New upstream snapshot. (LP: #1721808)
      - vmtest: fix artful networking

  
  $ dch --release

  $ bzr diff
  === modified file 'debian/changelog'
  --- debian/changelog	2017-10-06 17:45:19 +0000
  +++ debian/changelog	2017-10-06 17:55:43 +0000
  @@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
  -curtin (0.1.0~bzr532-0ubuntu1~17.04.1ubuntu1) UNRELEASED; urgency=medium
  +curtin (0.1.0~bzr532-0ubuntu1~17.04.1ubuntu1) xenial; urgency=medium
   
     * something
   
  - -- Chad Smith <chad.smith at canonical.com>  Fri, 06 Oct 2017 11:44:36 -0600
  + -- Chad Smith <chad.smith at canonical.com>  Fri, 06 Oct 2017 11:55:37 -0600
   
   curtin (0.1.0~bzr532-0ubuntu1~17.04.1) zesty; urgency=medium
   

  
  curtin (0.1.0~bzr532-0ubuntu1~17.04.1ubuntu1) UNRELEASED; urgency=medium

    * something

   -- Chad Smith <chad.smith at canonical.com>  Fri, 06 Oct 2017 11:44:36
  -0600

  curtin (0.1.0~bzr532-0ubuntu1~17.04.1) zesty; urgency=medium

    * New upstream snapshot. (LP: #1721808)
      - vmtest: fix artful networking

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