[Python-modules-team] Bug#979355: src:sphinx-rtd-theme: embeds several Sass libraries that should be packaged separately

[Jonas Smedegaard]

Quoting Dmitry Shachnev (2021-01-05 20:12:29)
> On Tue, Jan 05, 2021 at 07:37:06PM +0100, Jonas Smedegaard wrote:
> > > For Neat, sphinx-rtd-theme currently uses an ancient version, 
> > > 1.9.1 (released in 2018) while the latest upstream is 4.0.0.
> >
> > Assuming you are pointing this out because your package cannot 
> > possibly use the newer release, then effectively we are talking 
> > about a fork of Neat.
> 
> Yes, it cannot use the newer release because Wyrm is incompatible with 
> it:
> 
> https://github.com/snide/wyrm/issues/12

That one concretely seems easy fixable - but that's easy to say, I know
:-)


> > Who is caring for bugs in that fork - you? Upstream of 
> > sphinx-rtd-theme?
> 
> According to this comment, upstream of sphinx-rtd-theme are going to 
> work-around bugs in their code:
> 
> https://github.com/readthedocs/sphinx_rtd_theme/issues/544#issuecomment-409521422
> 
> > Are you certain noone else may need this old fork as well, since you 
> > chose to embed it instead of packaging it as a proper package in 
> > Debian?
> 
> I don’t see any reason for other packages to use this old stuff 
> instead of something modern and supported.
> 
> The Wyrm website mentions two users of that library: sphinx-rtd-theme 
> and https://github.com/webhook/webhook, which is also a dead project 
> and not packaged in Debian (Debian’s webhook package is a different 
> thing).

Thanks for those details.  Quite helpful to aid in curating which 
libraries to include with Debian.


> > > I don’t think it makes sense to package old versions of software 
> > > if they will be used only by sphinx-rtd-theme. And with new 
> > > versions it just won’t build.
> >
> > Please file an RFP for wyrm cc the Sass team, and mention the need 
> > for older Sass code.  Might make sense to either look into either 
> > patching sphinx-rtd-theme to work with newer Sass code or if 
> > unfeasable then ship both newest and some older snapshot in a 
> > sass-stylesheets.wyrm package.
> 
> RFP filed: https://bugs.debian.org/979358.

Thanks!


> I don’t think there is need for a separate RFP for neat, because if 
> someone looks at packaging wyrm, they will have to take care of neat 
> too and figure out the exact version to use.

Neat is developed by same authors as Bourbon (if I recall correctly), 
and has use cases also independently of wyrm.


> > Nice - that is helpful to mention in an RFP, as an entry into assessing
> > feasability of changing sphinx-rtd-theme to work with newer Sass code.
> 
> This is definitely something that should be done by upstream, not by us in
> Debian. (Upstream does not even always accept pull requests, e.g. #432 does
> not have any reply for a long time.)

No, not definitely (only possibly): Even if upstream don't care, Debian 
package carrying a patch might be beneficial compared to maintaining old 
Sass code (and certainly better than _embedding_ old Sass code).


> Anyway, I left a reference to our discussion here in my RFP.

Thanks.  For the RFP, for the details shared here, and for maintaining 
sphinx_rtd_theme - I use that package myself, via mkdocs.


 - Jonas

-- 
 * Jonas Smedegaard - idealist & Internet-arkitekt
 * Tlf.: +45 40843136  Website: http://dr.jones.dk/

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