[Pkg-javascript-devel] roadmap of jquery (and helpers)

[Jonas Smedegaard]

Quoting Paul Gevers (2016-09-16 20:01:27)
> On 09/14/16 21:46, Jonas Smedegaard wrote:
> > The Javascript team is only loosely coordinated: Not all of us nurse 
> > all of the packages in the team.
> 
> So how many are there approximately?

We are potentially 82, according to 
https://alioth.debian.org/projects/pkg-javascript/

How many of us have actively contributed in recent time I don't know. 
Probably a sensible feature to add to UDD dashboard (see bug#838067).


> And how many are involved in the jquery stuff?

Officially 3, according to Uploaders field as listed at 
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/jquery

Effectively only 1 has committed to master branch recently, according to 
https://anonscm.debian.org/cgit/pkg-javascript/jquery.git/log/

Numbers more broadly for "jquery stuff" is more tedious to resolve, I 
suspect.  It involves resolving the contributors to somewhere between 24 
and 1500 packages, according to quick looks at 
https://udd.debian.org/dmd/?pkg-javascript-devel%40lists.alioth.debian.org 
and the output of "build-rdeps libjs-jquery".


> I am considering joining the team, but I don't want to be the only one 
> to care for jquery and its related packages (no offense intended 
> Antonio).

I understand your concern, but which are the alternatives as you see it?

Personally I find only these alternatives sensible:

 a) patch package to work with javascript libs available in Debian
 b) hack package to avoid javascript unadaptable/unsuitable in Debian
 c) convince existing maintainers of javascript libs to improve
 d) get involved and do the improvements yourself

I.e. I don't find it sensible to maintain javascript libraries outside 
of this team, and don't find it sensible to embed code copies of 
javascript in other packages.

I am curious which alternatives you see, and arguments supporting them.


> > As I recall, maintenance of jquery in particular has lagged behind a 
> > lot in the past.  So any and all help would be much appreciated.
> So a statement on the current strategy would be nice, such that I can 
> evaluate if it makes sense to join the team.

Anyone (potential/official/effective/whatever) involved with jquery 
stuff please speak up!


> What I care for is that a modern version is available (maybe for the 
> time being next to an older API?

Sounds sensible to me - but my voice count less than those caring about 
jquery in particular.


> How are other JavaScript chains handling the lack of automatic API 
> tracking?

At least 16 packages unacceptably violates Debian Policy, according to 
https://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/secure-testing/data/embedded-code-copies?view=co


> Are there tools in the team to check for breakage? One of the stupid 
> but powerful things that I do for the cacti package (a web-app) is to 
> just recursively crawl all web-pages, I guess it must be possible to 
> also check JavaScript execution.

In theory we have several tools to emulate javascript-enabled browsing, 
but I have not yet been able to figure out how to use any of them. 
Anyone having positive experience with automated brower testing, please 
speak up!

I guess locally - *not* using Debian infrastructure - one might use npm 
to pull down and run some of the more involved various upstream testing 
tools.  Not that I would do so myself, just mentioning as an option...

Ideally we should package the more popular of those tools, obviously, 
but dependency chains are often long, and deviates from your question.


 - Jonas

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

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