remaining packages on the other list

[Jonas Smedegaard]

On Tue, Aug 17, 2010 at 01:22:27PM -0400, Felipe Sateler wrote:
>On 17/08/10 12:30, Adrian Knoth wrote:
>> On Tue, Aug 17, 2010 at 05:58:43PM +0200, Reinhard Tartler wrote:
>>
>>> I've had a small private followup conversation with Andreas about 
>>> this. He basically came up with the suggestion to turn 
>>> debian-multimedia at lists.debian.org from a *development* oriented 
>>> mailing list to a *user* focused list. This way users can share 
>>> their thoughts, concerns and kudos.
>>
>> Sounds good to me.
>>
>> I also digged out some mails from the archive with subject "closing down
>> debian-multimedia alioth project and l.d.o list", dating back to April
>> 2009.
>>
>> I never noticed there was still traffic on debian-multimedia at l.d.o.
>>
>> Anyway, make this the place for users and keep
>> pkg-multimedia-maintainers for "internal" discussion.
>>
>> Also note that we should change the maintainer address in the following
>> packages:
>>
>>    http://qa.debian.org/developer.php?login=debian-multimedia@lists.debian.org
>>
>> If we want to make debian-multimedia a place for users anytime soon,
>> we'd probably need to change all those packages upfront, IOW, before we
>> release squeeze.
>>
>> I'm not entirely sure the release team is happy if we'll upload 17
>> packages just because of a maintainer's email address change, but given
>> the long release cycle, I see no other way if we want to use
>> debian-multimedia at l.d.o, unless it's acceptable to see a bug reports now
>> and then on this list.
>>
>>
>> BTW: Many of these packages are pretty old, e.g. no new upload since
>> 2007 for hexter. They are also not available on git.debian.org. It might
>> be a good first step for beginners to get some experience with git,
>> git-buildpackage, team guidelines (multiline fields) and housekeeping in
>> general to help with these 17 packages. WDYT? ;)

Housekeeping on old packages is indeed a gentle way to learn packaging.

Most gentle on release managers, however, is to carefully change only 
what is sensible for the scope of Squeeze, which I suspect is not so 
easy for new packagers to do.

Also, I agree with Felipe that we should look at the relevancy of these 
packages first, so as to not accidentally keep alive abandoned software 
through "training sessions".


For all of them, we should really get in touch with last persons 
actually working on the packages!  I got quite upset when the VOIP team 
requested ftpmaster removal of a package I cared for, after a week of 
mailinglist discussion where I happened to be offline.


>gmerlin: Is this taken care of by gmerlin-avdecoder?

No.  From the long description of gmerlin_avdecoder:

  Gmerlin_avdecoder is a general purpose media decoding library. It was
  written as a support library for gmerlin, but it can also be used by 
  other applications. You don't even need gmerlin installed, only gavl.

I believe gavl is packaged as libgavl1 for Debian (hmm - if true then 
perhaps we should improve the long description to mention that package 
name?)

I care for this, and will pour some love at it if noone else steps up in 
a day or two.


>milkytracker: Upstream page is 403-Forbidden. I think we can drop a
>dead-upstream project. Popcon ~= 250

Sometimes it makes sense to continue upstream-dead software.  But only 
if really relevant (and probably not as a beginner task!).

Perhaps simply needs update to the Homepage stanza?  Is it perhaps the 
software now located at http://milkytracker.org/ ?

I have no special interest in this myself, though.


>openmovieeditor: Has a new upstream release from 2009, but the project
>seems dead. Popcon < 1000.

Movie editors have different target groups and there are not too many of 
them.

I care for this, and will pour some love at it if noone else steps up in 
a day or two.



>stops: Definitions and instrument for aeolus. No upstream release since
>2007. Popcon < 200.

Well, aeolus *depends* on it!


>vkeybd: A virtual keyboard. No new upstream release. Popcon ~= 350

I find this kind of tool relevant, and know of no alternative for this 
particular package.  Please do enlighten me if I have missed a good 
alternative where time is better spent.

I care for this, and will pour some love at it if noone else steps up in 
a day or two.



  - Jonas

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

  [x] quote me freely  [ ] ask before reusing  [ ] keep private
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 836 bytes
Desc: Digital signature
URL: <http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/pkg-multimedia-maintainers/attachments/20100817/c179461d/attachment.pgp>