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Re: How to give lesstif2 some attention?



On Wed, 29 Apr 2009 17:29:12 +0200
Paul Gevers <paul@climbing.nl> wrote:

> Hi mentors,
> 
> Recently I have invested quite some time to prepare a debdif for
> lesstif2 [0] to help the maintainer. Lesstif, which had low threshold
> NMU preference set, did not have a regular update in 1.5 years and
> definitely could use some attention. In my debdif I solved the
> following debian bugs: 396199, 479779, 503361, 314440, 43640, 87745,
> 356017, 496081 and 330057 by patching the code with patches available
> from upstream, Fedora and the BTS. I included the debdif in bug
> #522157 [1] on the April 1. I tried already before that date to
> #contact the current
> maintainer, but apart from a short conversation on IRC I he doesn't
> respond (although he seems present on IRC). In that conversation he
> was interested in the debdif.

Use the posted debdiff to create a package and upload it to
mentors.debian.net and post a complete RFS.

> I also intend to work with upstream (nearly dead by the looks of it,
> but I got commit rights) to improve the source code and eventually a
> new point release. Unfortunately that will be somewhat slow because I
> am unfamiliar with the code.

Make a new upstream release once all the existing patches and changes
are incorporated upstream.

This is similar to how I'm dealing with drivel. I refreshed the
upstream source for the version that was in Debian at the time
(basically running autoreconf and intltool-update -r etc.), added
suitable patches from the BTS etc. and made a new release (2.0.4 which
is now in Debian). The work then involved pushing those changes back
into the main upstream trunk and gradually getting that combination
back into shape for a complete upstream release.

If you are going to do this, you should at least be a co-maintainer of
the package in Debian - if you cannot get approval for that from the
existing maintainer, you may be better seeking a hijack. Stale packages
that have a revitalised upstream are usually granted hijacks if the
proposed maintainer is part of the new upstream team. (Hijack sounds
more dramatic than it really is in most cases.)

> What are your ideas of how to proceed? Is somebody willing to check
> the debdif? Maybe prefer a proper .dsc? Or of course just waiting for
> the current maintainer? I would appreciate some visions.

A debdiff is hard for anyone to review except the package maintainer. A
built package with a .dsc and .changes, lintian check results and the
rest make it easier for people on this list to give you a complete
review of the package.

-- 


Neil Williams
=============
http://www.data-freedom.org/
http://www.linux.codehelp.co.uk/
http://e-mail.is-not-s.ms/

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