Re: "Netiquette" of requesting package updates

["Brian C. White" <bcwhite@verisim.com>]

> As a new Debian user who migrated from Slackware, one of the
> few things I find a comparative disadvantage is being dropped
> back to earlier releases of certain programs.  I spend close
> to 50% of my Linux time using two programs, an editor and
> a WWW browser, and in both cases the current Debian version
> is several months out of date.

Which editor and browser are you talking about?  Are you looking
at the "stable" or the "development" directory tree?

I maintain the "netscape" package and it is right up to date.
You have to look at the development tree to see it, though.  (Well,
it _will_ be up-to-date as soon as it gets moved out of Incoming.)


> The last thing I want to do is to pester a volunteer who is
> freely donating time to hurry up with a new package.  On
> the other hand, it would seem that keeping up with new releases
> should be part of the maintainer's responsibility.  What is the
> etiquette on requesting or inquiring about package updates, if
> any?

Personally, I'm more than happy to receive a short, polite note
telling me that a later version of Netscape has been released.


> And in the meantime, I assume it would be best to remove the two
> packages in question and put binaries of the newer versions in
> /usr/local/bin, rather than to just replace the installed
> binaries in /usr/bin?

I believe so, yes.

                                        Brian
                               ( bcwhite@verisim.com )

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