[Debichem-devel] Unused packages

[Michael Banck]

Hi,

On Thu, Nov 02, 2017 at 11:41:10AM +0100, Filippo Rusconi wrote:
> I have been pursuing an effort to package mass spectrometry software for some
> years and it has proven useful, when looking at popcon values (up to 400, or
> so for some).
> 
> 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.

It's something that I/we need to do in general for Debichem packages I
guess, but I haven't managed to get around to it.
 
> 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

I think Option 1 is only useful if you think there'd be somebody else
potentially picking up maintenance; as I know just too well, this might
not be the case for very specific fields.

In the end it is your call, but I would probably just go with the second
option.


Michael