Re: About proposing and monitoring backports

[Gerfried Fuchs <rhonda@deb.at>]

  Hi there.

* rent0n <rent0n@gmx.com> [2011-06-14 13:29:44 CEST]:
> First of all, thank you for working on backports, it's a great resource  
> for the Debian community.

 Thanks, such feedback is very motivating to continue with the effort. :)

> I've got a couple of questions about the backporting process in Debian  
> and I can't find the answers on the backports website.
>
> - How are packages proposed to be backported? Should I just drop an  
> email to this list saying  "Please backport $package" or is there a  
> better way?

 I guess asking the package maintainers would be a good idea because
they already are familiar with the package and thus would be the perfect
candidates to maintain the backport.

 If they aren't interested second-best is mailing here and asking,
including potentially an already prepared backport that you have tested
so that people are aware right ahead what it entails (like potentially
requiring additional libraries or such).

 Including a reason why you think it would be a good candidate to
backport (like, which new feature you are exactly interested in that the
stable package doesn't offer) can help convincing people.

> - Is there a place where I can look to see what packages the backporters  
> are currently working on, in order to avoid repeated requests for the  
> same packages?

 There is no ITP list for backports like there is for the main archive.
On the other hand, the packaging work is already done in the regular
archive, and the backporting is often enough a recompile and of course
the testing of the result, but that isn't that time intensive.

 Enjoy!
Rhonda
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