[Pkg-javascript-devel] Heads up: Likely scaling back on my involvement in JavaScript team

[Pirate Praveen]

Hi team,

I started getting involved in JavaScript team to keep diaspora and gitlab packages in main.

Gitlab was included in stretch but it is proposed to be removed from buster. [1]

Since it won't be in buster, it can't be in -backports as well, leaving only unstable. Some people are using gitlab with unstable currently, but I don't feel comfortable recommending it as an option for production deployments.

I tried to have backports definition expanded to include packages like gitlab, which cannot be supported for the life time of a stable release, but it was rejected by backports team.

I proposed a redefined volatile archive that can accommodate packages like gitlab. I hope it gets accepted.

In the very likely event of the proposal not accepted, I won't be able to offer a gitlab package in a reasonably stable suite (I don't think unstable can be that). In such a situation maintaining it in unofficial repo would be the only option.

Currently gitlab is in contrib and I have been packaging the node dependencies in the hope of being able to provide the package in main. If there is no chance of it being an official package, being in contrib should be fine enough for me.

In such a scenario, I will only need npm or yarn to install the dependencies from npmjs.com 

Even if I wanted to maintain these, backports ftp masters have been complaining (no one seems to challenge it, so its likely shared by other backports contributors as well), I have too many packages and it won't be easy for others to replace me [2]. I have tried to mentor so many new contributors, but the number of people who stay and contribute after learning packaging is too small.

If anyone is interested to have npm in stretch-backports, please reply to [2]. I have done all the required work and it is sitting in backports-NEW for over 1.5 months.

So I'd stop maintaining all JavaScript packages except npm and yarn (if yarn becomes ready, I will drop npm as well) after buster release so the team can decide how to move forward from early next release cycle. I will take care of all the packages I'm listed as an uploader in buster.

Thanks
Praveen

[1] https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=915050
[2] https://lists.debian.org/debian-backports/2018/12/msg00029.html
-- 
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