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Bug#685039: developers-reference: please document what is needed to reintroduce a package



On Mon, 2012-09-17 at 08:51 +0800, Paul Wise wrote:

> Done in the attached patch, thanks.

I didn't see the comments from Charles Plessy as I wasn't subscribed to
the bug and he did not CC me. I've attached a new version adopting his
suggestions.

-- 
bye,
pabs

http://wiki.debian.org/PaulWise
Index: common.ent
===================================================================
--- common.ent	(revision 9361)
+++ common.ent	(working copy)
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
 <!ENTITY www-debian-org "www.debian.org">
 <!ENTITY ftp-debian-org "ftp.debian.org">
 <!ENTITY release-debian-org "release.debian.org">
+<!ENTITY snap-debian-org "snapshot.debian.org">
 <!ENTITY lists-host "lists.debian.org">
 <!ENTITY archive-host "archive.debian.org">
 <!ENTITY keyserver-host "keyring.debian.org">
Index: pkgs.dbk
===================================================================
--- pkgs.dbk	(revision 9361)
+++ pkgs.dbk	(working copy)
@@ -1238,7 +1238,7 @@
 </section>
 
 <section id="archive-manip">
-<title>Moving, removing, renaming, adopting, and orphaning packages</title>
+<title>Moving, removing, reintroducing, renaming, adopting, and orphaning packages</title>
 <para>
 Some archive manipulation operations are not automated in the Debian upload
 process.  These procedures should be manually followed by maintainers.  This
@@ -1486,6 +1486,53 @@
 </para>
 </section>
 
+<section id="reintroducing-pkgs">
+<title>Reintroducing packages</title>
+<para>
+Packages are often removed due to release-critical bugs, absent maintainers,
+too few users or poor quality in general. There are some things you should be
+aware of when reintroducing removed packages.
+</para>
+<para>
+You should check why the package was removed in the first place. This
+information can be found in the removal item in the news section of the PTS
+page for the package or by browsing the log of
+<ulink url="http://&ftp-master-host;/#removed";>removals</ulink>.
+The removal bug will tell you why the package was removed and will give some
+indication of what you will need to work on in order to reintroduce the package.
+It may indicate that the best way forward is to switch to some other piece of
+software instead of reintroducing the package.
+</para>
+<para>
+It may be appropriate to contact the former maintainers to find out if
+they are working on reintroducing the package, interested in co-maintaining
+the package or interested in sponsoring the package if needed.
+</para>
+<para>
+You should do all the things required before introducing new packages
+(<xref linkend="newpackage"/>).
+</para>
+<para>
+You should base your work on the latest packaging available that is suitable.
+That might be the latest version from <literal>unstable</literal>, which will
+still be present in the <ulink url="&snap-debian-org;">snapshot archive</ulink>.
+</para>
+<para>
+The version control system used by the previous maintainer might contain useful
+changes, so it might be a good idea to have a look there.  Check if the control
+file of the previous package contained any headers linking to the version
+control system for the package and if it still exists.
+</para>
+<para>
+Package removals from unstable (not testing, stable or oldstable) trigger the
+closing of all bugs related to the package. You should look through all the
+closed bugs (including archived bugs) and unarchive and reopen any that were
+closed in a version ending in <literal>+rm</literal> and still apply. Any that
+no longer apply should be marked as fixed in the correct version if that is
+known.
+</para>
+</section>
+
 </section>
 
 <section id="porting">

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