Re: Debian Maintainers GR Proposal
Benjamin BAYART <bayartb@edgard.fdn.fr> wrote:
>> > So, right now, when I have troubles with Debian/TeX stuff, I tend to
>> > solve it on my computer, and just report nothing, since reporting is
>> > useless.
>>
>> I disagree since when you report a bug and even contribute a patch
>> and add links to your own fixed packages other users can benefit from
>> your investigation as well -- given they find the bug report and the
>> patch/link included.
>
> This is not what I learned from previous experiences. And I trust my
> experience more than any theory. The exemple of dvidvi was quite a mess,
> the package was a candidate for removal, and I did ask personaly to DDs
> to give help in using my patch, cleaning the mess (Debian standards
> evolved while the package did not), and to upload it.
I guessthis experience is quite the same as others make, at least for
TeX packages.
> So here was my practical conclusion: I did send a bug report, useless
> during months, and that bug report was used to argue that the package is
> broken and unkaintained and to remove it. Conclusion: reporting on a
> un-maintained package is something dangerous.
Hm, what was the severity of the bugs you are thinking about? Where the
packages removed due to a couple of unfixed important bugs?
I think that Debian users are generally better served when the number of
available packages is limited, but their quality is high, instead of a
large number with often questionable quality. This is particularly true
for software which is hardly maintained upstream; I guess dvidvi is an
example for that: Since I started using TeX seriously, around 98 or 99,
I've never been given advice to use it (I use ps* or pdfpages instead).
If it's being maintained badly within Debian, is there much use in
keeping it? Those with old installs can keep their old version, those
with new ones should probably rather learn those tools that are
currently developped. The only problem is if a long-term user gets a
new machine...
Regards, Frank
--
Frank Küster
Single Molecule Spectroscopy, Protein Folding @ Inst. f. Biochemie, Univ. Zürich
Debian Developer (teTeX/TeXLive)
Reply to: