Adopting orphaned packages (axkit and relatives)
I'm interested in adopting and maintaining the axkit source package (i.
e., the AxKit XML application server and its relatives axkit-examples,
axkit-language-htmldoc, and axkit-language-query). Debian has been my
preferred distribution for several years and I've monkeyed with dpkg for
internal purposes (backports, complicated kernel patch sets, etc.) AxKit
looks like an area where I can perhaps contribute in time for the sarge
release.
I am currently running AxKit on woody + backports of many packages on
which it depends. If I understand correctly, I will need to build on
sarge (or sid?) in order to produce a package fit for upload. Should I
begin by setting up a sarge system, and if so, what is the best procedure
currently? (I would default to x86 hardware since I have several handy,
but I could also set up a Sparc if that's better.) Should I install woody
and then upgrade, or should I try out the new debian-installer? And once
I have a sarge system, are there packages I should pin before proceeding
on to sid, or is it the other way around (upgrade only selected packages
to sid)?
I will also need a sponsor for an upload once I have built a new package.
As there are currently no outstanding bugs and no new upstream releases, I
plan to start by just changing the maintainer address, running the result
through its paces using my axkit-based pages and the example code, and
making it available to a sponsor for upload. The next step is probably to
update the Standards-Version and polish away any warts revealed by lintian
and linda.
My read on the package is that, if it had a maintainer, it would propagate
promptly into testing once perl 5.8.2 gets unstuck. If there are issues
I'm missing, please let me know. Thanks in advance for any advice.
- Michael
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