On Sat, Apr 09, 2011 at 08:40:01AM +0100, Matt Zimmerman wrote:
> > Have those bugs being user tagged in addition to collected on the status
> > page? While it might seem duplicate work to do so as well, usertagging
> > would allow to query the status of bugs pertaining to a specific project
> > using either the SOAP interface or UDD. The latter would be particularly
> > useful for QA initiatives, which might want to use DEX gathered data to
> > spot, for instance, unmaintained packages.
>
> No, I don't think this particular set of bugs has been usertagged yet.
Done now (with a bit more gymnastic than expected, given some bug needed
unarchiving). The overview page is at:
http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/pkgreport.cgi?users=debian-derivatives@lists.debian.org;tag=dex-ubuntu-ancient-patches
Can you link it from somewhere on the page of the ancient-patches
initiatives (more as a template for the future than as actually needed
at this point ...)
> Unfortunately, it's common that these discussions don't reach a clear
> conclusion, and instead the bug remains open, not "wontfix" but "to fix
> someday", and that's a loss for Debian and DEX.
>
> If a maintainer takes exception to a specific patch, we can try to re-work
> it to make it acceptable. However, if the maintainer won't accept *any
> patches at all*, that's a serious obstacle and we need a better answer to it.
I agree with the above, but the escalation mechanisms we can use are no
different than the usual Debian mechanisms; the fact that the changes
come from a desire to merge a delta doesn't justify a difference in
treatment. Ultimately, what could make a difference is the fact that we
will monitor the issue and work on it actively, possibly even via an
NMU.
In the specific case you mention (dhcp, #308832), the maintainer also
replied about the merits of the patch, saying that he has a policy to
stay close to upstream, whereas the proposed patch will make him drift
from that policy. You clearly have a different view and believe that the
benefits of applying that patch in terms of security justify drifting
from maintainer policy. If anyone, DEX or not, feels strongly about the
position you're advocating, the proper solution would be to activate the
CTTE. An usual middle ground could be raising the topic on -devel, to
gather opinions from others.
That notwithstanding, the maintainer has also said that he is short on
time and mentioned that he'll get back to dhcp stuff mid April. Given
that it is quite close, we should give the maintainer a chance to stay
up to it.
All this is part of the reason why I believe a killer feature DEX
initiatives should have is the ability to keep track, in the long run,
of the status of every single delta and of corresponding "next actions"
/ "reminders". By the way, I fully understand how all this can be
perceived as frustrating and I'm not hiding the fact that it's less
efficient than being able to just do things. But we still need to work
by the rules and propose stepwise improvements to those rules where
needed.
> I think that at this point, we should start working on an updated package
> for sysklogd. There is some work to be done to extract the updated patch
> from Ubuntu, and package it for Debian. That work will be useful if the
> maintainer responds, or for a delayed NMU, so it seems worth doing.
>
> Would any of our volunteers be willing to help with this task?
I agree that preparing a delayed NMU would be appropriate in this case.
(Unfortunately I cannot volunteer myself for doing that ATM.)
> > I duly notice that the fact that we have a procedural device to handle
> > those cases does not imply that, within DEX, we have the manpower to
> > actually go ahead and do the NMUs. Initially we essentially decided to
> > do just coordination work, while NMUs do need active packaging power to
> > proceed.
>
> I think that doing uploads is well within the scope of DEX, where this will
> improve Debian and reduce the delta with a derivative.
I'll be more than happy about having NMUs within the scope of DEX! In
fact, that would be a very concrete step in closing deltas.
Cheers.
--
Stefano Zacchiroli -o- PhD in Computer Science \ PostDoc @ Univ. Paris 7
zack@{upsilon.cc,pps.jussieu.fr,debian.org} -<>- http://upsilon.cc/zack/
Quando anche i santi ti voltano le spalle, | . |. I've fans everywhere
ti resta John Fante -- V. Capossela .......| ..: |.......... -- C. Adams
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