Re: Incorporating new versions of algorithms in tetex for etch?
Rogério Brito <rbrito@ime.usp.br> wrote:
> Hi there.
>
> I see that there are current efforts to make tetex 3.0 work for etch (while
> it is still in experimental). I would like to ask you if you could include
> a newer version of algorithms in the Debian package of tetex 3.0, if
> possible.
It is good to hear that you do not only care for writing algorithms, but
also for including it in distributions (or in your favorite Linux
distribution only, I don't know). However, unless the version in
tetex-3.0 is hardly usable, we must generally decline such requests.
The problem is that every month we get a request to add this or that
package, or a new version of it, from CTAN. Of course, most of the time
nobody among the Debian teTeX maintainers uses the package, and
therefore cannot say how it might interfere with other packages and
cause incompatibilities - we would have to check that. On the other
hand, the maintainers' team already has enough to do with adapting the
existing teTeX distribution to the Debian needs (or more than enough,
actually).
Therefore we must decline such wishes. Either the users have to wait
until a new teTeX comes out, or wait until the yearly-updated tex-live
packages for Debian become available. Or - and this has been done in a
couple of cases where a package was very actively developed - the CTAN
package is provided as a separate Debian package with a different
maintainer (and removed from the tetex packages). To achieve this, you
must either find someone to maintain it (filing a RFP bug against the
wnpp pseudo package in our Bugtracking System could be a first step), or
prepare the package yourself and look for a sponsor who does the upload.
> BTW, since we are talking about tetex 3.0, is any testing desired? If yes,
> I can probably install a "guinea pig" system here (with etch and tetex 3.0
> taken from experimental) and report back what I see.
Yes, we would be glad to get more reports!
Regards, Frank
--
Frank Küster
Inst. f. Biochemie der Univ. Zürich
Debian Developer
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