[Debichem-devel] Unused packages

[Nicholas Breen]

On Thu, Nov 02, 2017 at 11:41:10AM +0100, Filippo Rusconi wrote:
> However some packages are not  well-maintained upstream. Interestingly (but
> logically) these packages also have pretty low popcon values (2 to 5, for
> example). This is almost null, if we think that I download and install these
> packages myself for testing purposes.  But I do not actually use these packages.
> These packages have regularly FTBFS bugs that is are a pain to fix because they
> are not well maintained upstream... and I do not want to bother.
> 
> What do you think should I do in the best interest of the Debian repository
> quality (less packages, more used, more maintained, more reliable)?
> 
> Option 1: orphan these packages (libmstoolkit, python-pymzml, comet-ms)
> Option 2: have them removed by ftpmasters
> Option 3: tag wontfix all the bugs, they won't pass the sid->testing barrier and
> will be automagically removed.

(3) works only for removal from testing; they'll stay in sid and keep
attracting FTBFS bug reports.

If they're basically dead upstream, I'd probably go directly for (2), or
perhaps (1) followed by a few months' wait, then (2) if no one expresses
interest.



-- 
Nicholas Breen
nbreen at debian.org