taking over gnucash packaging

["Jeffrey W. Baker" <jwbaker@acm.org>]

I am planning to take over the packaging of GnuCash.  Gnumatic have
released version 1.6.4 of GnuCash, but the Debian package lingers at
1.6.1.  I think it's shameful that a fantastic app like GnuCash doesn't
have its latest version in the distribution.

Since this is my first Debian package, I have a few questions.  What is
the best way to handle taking over a package if the previous maintainer
cannot be contacted?  I am not implying that John Goerzen is off the air,
but I haven't heard from him about the package so far, and the 1.6.1
package is three months old and obsolete for two months.

Second question is whether this discussion should be here or on the new
maintainers lists.

BTW I've got most of the new maintainer requirements including the package
of gnucash ready to roll.  I'm just a bit unsure about the next step.

Regards,
Jeffrey Baker