Re: O: nvi - 4.4BSD re-implementation of vi
On Tue, Feb 06, 2024 at 06:38:18PM +0100, Paride Legovini wrote:
> Hi Tobias!
>
> On 2024-02-05 10:43, Tobias Heider wrote:
> > On Sat, Jan 26, 2013 at 12:38:07AM +0000, Stuart Prescott wrote:
> >>
> >> The maintainer for the "nvi" package has indicated that he is unable to
> >> maintain this package for the time being. I'm marking this package as orphaned
> >> now.
> >
> > Looks like this is still orphaned over ten years later.
> >
> > As an active nvi user I would love to step up and help, but the biggest
> > problem I see is that the choice of upstream project. Since the original
> > is gone there isn't a clear successor.
> >
> > The BSDs all have their own forks which diverged over time (and those don't
> > build on Linux).
> > The other two options there are today are https://repo.or.cz/nvi.git which
> > d/control currently points to and more recently https://github.com/lichray/nvi2.
> >
> > The first has a very low commit frequency (last commit was 2020, before
> > that 2016) and sticks very closely to the original source. nvi2 has added
> > new features such as multibyte support and is starting to receive bug fixes
> > and features from the different *BSD forks.
> >
> > I have been thinking of proposing a new package for nvi2 but maybe it would
> > make more sense to move this one to the more active upstream. It looks like
> > some of the issues we are carrying patches for in Debian might be fixed there
> > already and if not they seem active enough to merge our fixes.
> >
> > What would be the best way forward here? ITA and eventually switch the upstream
> > or start a new package and let this one continue its slow death?
>
> I think making the O bug and ITA and switching upstream is right thing to
> do here, maybe explaining the history of the package in README.source.
>
> I can't think think of a reasonable use case where nvi2 would not be
> a suitable drop-in replacement for nvi; if neither can you (knowing
> the editor way better than me!), then I'd say go for the switch.
>
> I'll be happy reviewing/sponsoring if needed.
Thanks! Yours and Andreas' feedback give me enough confidence that it might
be worth it, so I'll start hacking and see if it's doable.
I think I'll ITA and check if I can fix some smaller things first before
making the big move, since that will require more time and lots of testing
to make sure everything still works.
I'll let you know if I have something that needs sponsoring!
>
> Cheers,
>
> Paride
>
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