Re: RFC: Why are so many debian packages outdated?
On Thu, Jul 26, 2012 at 6:09 PM, Russ Allbery wrote:
>> While it's nice that you've prepared a package for the new mlocate
>> upstream version, getting it done after the freeze is simply far too
>> late. Also, for packages that haven't been updated in a very long time
>> (two years in this case), a much better bet for a productive exchange is
>> to get it in front of -mentors instead of just the (possibly mia)
>> maintainer.
>
> In this case, the maintainer is definitely not MIA. Prompted by this
> thread, I looked over the open bugs (and took the liberty of tagging a
> couple since I was looking them over anyway), and they seem fairly
> well-triaged to me and most have a maintainer response.
True. Part of the problem is appropriate terminology. This is a case
of what I would call an "undermaintained" package. Even though the
maintainer is still around, and may be quite active elsewhere, this
package has not gotten any attention in 2 years (even though multiple
upstreams have been released in the meantime).
This would be a case where I think liberal NMUing would certainly be
appropriate (of course prior to the freeze). It's not really
appropriate to forcefully remove the maintainer, but for volunteers
interested in the package, they should feel free to help improve it
while it is in its "undermaintained" state.
Best wishes,
Mike
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