See <http://www.debian.org/devel/wnpp/> for reference. When a package that has been ITP'ed is finally packaged, I'd like to suggest that it be reassigned to ftp.debian.org. The package changelog can and should still use "Closes: #<ITP bugnumber>", so that the bug is closed automatically, but this way it is clear that the matter is out of the (prospective) package maintainer's hands, or those of the WNPP group, and in that of the FTP maintainers. If a package is rejected by the FTP admins, they should email the bug number and explain why. If by its very nature a package can't be accepted into the project, perhaps the bug should retitled "UTP" [unable to package] and reassigned to wnpp. Advantages: 1) This better reflects the actual process by which packages get into Debian, and who is responsible for a package at a given stage of its life-cycle. 2) This gives the FTP admins a place to put information relevant to the process of accepting (or not) a new package into the archive. For instance, here's part of the output of ls -hlrt on auric's incoming directory: -rw-r--r-- 1 philh Debian 1.2k Jul 3 02:31 memoization_1.0-4_i386.changes -rw-r--r-- 1 viral Debian 1007 Jul 3 13:49 kernel-patch-folk_1.10-1_hppa.changes -rw-rw-r-- 1 troup Debian 1.0k Jul 6 13:25 mnews_1.22PL5-1_i386.changes -rw-r--r-- 1 troup Debian 1000 Aug 29 16:50 sword-comm-mhcc_1.1-1_i386.changes -rw-r--r-- 1 troup Debian 1019 Aug 29 17:01 sword-dict-naves_1.1-1_i386.changes -rw-r--r-- 1 was Debian 988 Sep 1 22:21 csmash-demosong_1.0_i386.changes -rw-r--r-- 1 chanop Debian 1.2k Sep 15 02:59 libjpeg-mmx_0.1.3-1_i386.changes -rw-r--r-- 1 chanop Debian 1.3k Sep 15 03:03 libmpeg3_1.4-1_i386.changes -rw-r--r-- 1 chanop Debian 1.1k Sep 15 07:43 bcast_2000c-1_i386.changes -rw-r--r-- 1 branden Debian 1.5k Sep 18 09:43 xmailtool_3.1.2b-1.4_i386.changes -rw-r--r-- 1 gibreel Debian 1.9k Sep 19 12:43 j2se1.3-powerpc_1.3.0-1_powerpc.changes -rw-r--r-- 1 gibreel Debian 2.1k Sep 20 13:28 j2se1.3-i386_1.3.1-1.1_i386.changes -rw-r--r-- 1 marillat Debian 1.3k Sep 21 10:46 rte_0.3.1-1_i386.changes Some of those packages have been there quite a while. Some of them, like the FOLK collection of kernel packages, and Broadcast 2000, are quite interesting, but I'm not sure where to look for information about why they haven't been accepted yet (other new packages have been in the meantime). After xmailtool sat in the incoming queue for several days, I filed a bug against ftp.debian.org <http://bugs.debian.org/113300>. "Hi, xmailtool is one of those de facto unmaintained packages that hasn't seen an upload since potato released. I uploaded an NMU on September 18th that fixes a serious bug in the package (it has a file overlap with xlibs, which might actually be a grave bug, not just serious). Please add xmailtool to the katie database. madison knows about the version in stable, if that's any help." The bug was quickly closed by one of the FTP admins: "xmailtool is a NEW package. It will be processed as normal. You are not going to harass us into special casing you by filing hysterical bug reports." So I replied: "Please quote to me the part of the report that was hysterical, so I can avoid using such language in the future." The FTP admins' only further reply was to the BTS control bot: "tags 113360 wontfix severity 113360 wishlist thanks Bored now." Clearly not a very productive exchange. Apparently the package is never to be accepted into Debian, and the FTP admins have not explained why. Disadvantages: I can't think of any. Comments? WNPP guys, what do you think? -- G. Branden Robinson | I just wanted to see what it looked Debian GNU/Linux | like in a spotlight. branden@debian.org | -- Jim Morrison http://people.debian.org/~branden/ |
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