Bug#992348: mapserver: please re-enable build of ruby-mapscript package

[Tomas Pospisek]

Hi Bas,

frankly I find it very nice to hear you say no. Very refreshing and the 
argumentation is very sound - I completely concur. Nothing else to add to 
that other than thanks a lot to you for maintaining mapserver!

I will discuss with my peers here whether and how to put effort into 
packaging ruby-mapserver. In case we get something going I'll eventually 
send you an URL and you'll be able to re-evaluate your assessment if 
you'll deem worth it.

Again, thanks a lot for maintining mapserver, appreciate it a lot!!! Best 
greetings!
*t

On Tue, 17 Aug 2021, Sebastiaan Couwenberg wrote:

> tags 992348 wontfix
> thanks
>
> On 8/17/21 5:35 PM, Tomas Pospisek wrote:
>> tldr: would it be possible to re-enable the ruby-mapscript package
>> build?
>
> While possible, I'd rather not.
>
>> Extended explication: requiring a packaged version of ruby-mapscript
>> on Ubuntu 20.04 I today basically reverted commits [1] and [2] and
>> ruby-mapscript built just fine. A quick test showed ruby-mapscript
>> to work. Then I did the same thing on bullseye and again,
>> ruby-mapscript build fine.
>
> Then you are one of the very few actual users of ruby-mapscript.
>
>> Questions:
>>
>> * would it be possible to start building the ruby-mapscript package again?
>>
>> * I see commit [1] that says "Build Ruby MapScript only for default version",
>>   but it doesn't say why builds for other ruby versions are being dropped.
>>   What was the reason for dropping the build of ruby-mapscript for the
>>   various existing Ruby versions?
>
> Building for more than one ruby/php/python/etc version requires building
> mapserver again, this makes the build time significantly longer for very
> little gain during transitions to new interpreter versions.
>
>> * half an hour later there's a commit [2] that drops ruby-mapscript
>>   alltogether. I couldn't find a log of the respective FTBS. But
>>   maybe it doesn't matter any more since it does seem to build just
>>   fine now.
>
> Because popcon showed no actual users of ruby-mapscript keeping the
> package around just causes unnecessary busy work. I don't use Ruby nor
> ruby-mapscript, but I do have to spend time maintaining those bits in
> mapserver.
>
>> So would it be possible to revert [1] and [2]? Or should I fork the
>> project on Salsa and file a PR?
>
> Don't bother with a PR, just maintain the fork of the packaging for your
> personal repo.
>
> If I could count on your long term commitment on maintaining the Ruby
> support in the mapserver package, I might consider merging your changes.
> But my experience with onboarding new contributors has been
> disappointing, they tend to disappear not long after their work got in
> the archive and don't stick around for long term maintenance.
>
> I'm not keen on increasing the amount of packaging I have to maintain
> but don't actually use.
>
> Kind Regards,
>
> Bas
>
> -- 
> GPG Key ID: 4096R/6750F10AE88D4AF1
> Fingerprint: 8182 DE41 7056 408D 6146  50D1 6750 F10A E88D 4AF1
>