Re: orphaned packages
Carl B. Constantine wrote:
> I'm starting the process of becoming a Debian Devrloper/Maintainer.
> Many of the orphaned packages, while being orphaned due to workload, are
> no longer even being developed ir maintained upstream. for example, the
> various gnome packages such as gnome-debug, gnome-audio (which has a
> completly new upstream version), and many others.
If a package within Debian has withdrawn upstream there are two
possibilities: a) toss out the package or b) become upstream yourself
by taking over full responsibility of the package and also releasing
upstream packages.
When there are only new upstream versions available the new maintainer
should probably work on their integration and replace the old packages.
> As a prospective new developer, I'm curios what package would be really
> goods to strt with. Many of the ITA and ITP packages are still not
> packaged by the NMU from what I can tell. bugsx doesn't appear to even
> have an upstream developer...maybe it should be removed???
A good start would be any small package. No library or no widely used
library at least. Hence, the impact of breaks is only little.
Another good start would be to walk around and fix various bugs in
other packages, thus providing patches and learning how other people
did packaging.
> anyway, I am interested in gnome and php4, but don't want to go down a
> dead end path.
So pick up one of the gnome packages that are orphaned that are no
library packages. PHP4 will be maintained by Adam Conrad, I guess,
but I also guess that he'd be willing to accept assistance from
others, so you may check the relevant bug report and contact him.
Regards,
Joey
--
The MS-DOS filesystem is nice for removable media. -- H. Peter Anvin
Please always Cc to me when replying to me on the lists.
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