Re: An alarming trend (no it's not flaimbait.)
:-> "ahzz-debate" == ahzz-debate <ahzz-debate@vmail.terrabox.com> writes:
[...]
> I see an increasing trend of two critical problems in the way
> debian operates. #1 package age. Let me talk about this one
> first. There has been a relatively (year or two) explosion in
> the package count. As this package count has gone up, packages
> that I have used for years and that used to work well have
> falen into a sad state or disrepair. I'll use CDRToaster as an
> example here.
[...]
> However, that leaves a problem. I've been told by several
> developers that "it's an upstream problem. send them a patch
> and when they include it we will update". Wel, that argument
> doesn't work in increasingly common cases like this. At this
> point, it is now (IMHO) the debian packagers problem. If they
> are unwilling or unable to fix it, then the package should be
> marked as "BAD" or "dead-upstream" as a warning to the user
> that they should pick a different utility like this one to
> use.
[...]
> It is my opinion that if you are putting your name to
> somethign that you are providing for download, you are
> implying that you have accepted responsibility for the quality
> of the software.
> If this is not the case, then debian needs to stop labeling
> itself as a "distro" in the users eyes, and clearly label
> itself as a system of packaging volunteers that have NO
> responsibility for software bugs at all, and ONLY responsible
> and track bugs that come from being packaged.
[...]
> Ok, enough of this for tonight. I will now let you all discuss
> this amongst yourselves since I am not a developer. Should the
> situation arise that a: I have more free time, and b: that
> debian either accepts responsibility for packages, or
> alternativly modifies it's public image to one of being a
> packager only and keeps up with upstream stuff, then at that
> point i'd be interested in joining the team to make debian
> better.
[...]
> I would appreciate a CC: to ahzz-debate@vmail.terrabox.com for
> any emails sent back tot he list directly. For I am not on the
> debian-devel mailing list.:)
[...]
Nice bait.... I'll bite, but if you want to read it you'll have to
subscribe... It's not fair to throw the rock and hide the hand
1) learn how to properly format a mail message (i.e. fold at 75th
column)
2) learn how to package a deb and adopt whichever package you think
you're better at maintaining than the original maintainer
3) if the package is dead upstream, fork it and maintain it
yourself. Most free software licences allow it.
Have a nice (redhat|mandrake|windowsXP) day
Pf
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Pierfrancesco Caci | ik5pvx | mailto:p.caci@tin.it - http://gusp.dyndns.org
Firenze - Italia | Office for the Complication of Otherwise Simple Affairs
Linux penny 2.4.16 #1 Fri Nov 30 22:12:51 CET 2001 i686 unknown
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