Bug#766185: freeciv-client-gtk: Removal of GTK+3 client

[Jacob Nevins]

> The upstream developers of Freeciv request to stop packaging the GTK+ 3
> client because recent versions of GTK+ 3 libraries apparently broke
> certain functionality which is vital to play and enjoy the game.

In fact there are multiple issues with freeciv-gtk3; what prompted this
was this bug report from a Jessie user that they couldn't found cities:
<http://gna.org/bugs/?22833>
I think this will probably turn out to be our (upstream) bug -- I doubt
it has anything to do with libraries -- but where we are right now is
that freeciv-gtk3 isn't ready for prime time, and shouldn't be the first
client that users run into.

(<http://gna.org/task/?7760> lists some more regressions from Gtk2 to
Gtk3, although most are only cosmetic.)

> My main concern is that our common practice of providing multiple
> clients is at stake here. Actually I don't see any reason to continue
> providing multiple clients because you can argue the same way for all
> other clients. They are not feature complete and probably buggy.

I don't think this issue needs to be inflated to whether multiple
clients are packaged at all; I'd be happy for freeciv-gtk3 to be in its
own package on its own terms, and am only suggesting pulling it entirely
to try to meet Jessie timescales. If we postpone resolution to
post-Jessie then the correct resolution is to split out a
freeciv-client-gtk3 package, not to remove freeciv-gtk3. (And it really
is too late to do anything for Jessie now, for practical purposes, I
think?)

Why this request was so late: I was vaguely aware that freeciv-gtk3 had
been packaged as of 2.4.0, packaged, but like Marko, I assumed that it
was in its own package, and I wasn't aware until recently that it was
included in the same package as the default/recommended client, with no
clear distinction between the two once installed.
(My original request attached, for the record.)

> In my opinion removing the GTK+ 3 client two weeks before the freeze
> is also a rather disruptive change and I would have expected more bug
> reports in the past months from people if the situation was really
> that bad.

Maybe I'm worrying overly; the Ubuntu 14.04LTS package is the same
shape, I think, and I don't recall seeing any fallout from that (either
upstream or in Launchpad). I've only fielded the one person who ran into
freeciv-gtk3 by accident.

In the end it's your decision as Debian maintainer, of course.
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From: Jacob Nevins <jacobn at chiark.greenend.org.uk>
Subject: freeciv-gtk3 (was: Bug#764706: freeciv-client-gtk: Please fix empty governments menu bug (bug #22599, svn patch 26427))
Date: Sun, 19 Oct 2014 11:06:57 +0100
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