[Pkg-xmpp-devel] Bug#983682: Freeze exception for psi-plugins/1.5-2

[Boris Pek]

Package: release.debian.org
Severity: normal
User: release.debian.org at packages.debian.org
Usertags: freeze-exception
X-Debbugs-CC: tehnick at debian.org, pkg-xmpp-devel at lists.alioth.debian.org

Dear release team,

Please consider a release exception for new package psi-plugins [1].

 This package contains officially supported plugins for Psi:
 * Attention
 * Autoreply
 * Birthday Reminder
 * Chess
 * Cleaner
 * Client Switcher
 * Conference Logger
 * Content Downloader
 * Enum Messages
 * Extended Menu
 * Extended Options
 * Gomoku Game
 * History Keeper
 * Image
 * Image Preview
 * Jabber Disk
 * Juick
 * Message Filter
 * OpenPGP
 * Off-the-Record
 * PEP Change Notify
 * QIP X-Statuses
 * Screenshot
 * Stop Spam
 * Storage Notes
 * Translate
 * Video Status
 * Watcher
 .
 Psi is a cross-platform powerful XMPP client designed for experienced users.
 User interface of program is very flexible in customization. For example,
 there are "multi windows" and "all in one" modes, support of different
 iconsets and themes. Psi supports file sharing and audio/video calls. Security
 is also a major consideration, and Psi provides it for both client-to-server
 (TLS) and client-to-client (OpenPGP, OTR, OMEMO) via appropriate plugins.


While psi-plugins package is new in Debian, the project has long history [2],
these plugins are stable and well tested in other GNU/Linux distros and even
in Debian [3], upstream is active and responsive, Psi 1.x releases cycle
receives only bug fixes, backported from git master branch (where active
development of next Psi 2.0 release is done).

Yes, Psi program may still be used without these plugins, but I believe that
additional features provided by them will be highly demanded by Debian users.

[1] https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/psi-plugins
[2] https://github.com/psi-im/plugins/tags
[3] In fact psi-plus-plugins package [4] used the same code base approximately
    between Psi+ 0.16.19  and 1.2.40 releases [5] (2012-2017). Just a reminder:
    Psi+ is a development branch of Psi with rolling release development model.
    Users who wants to receive new features and bug fixes very quickly may use
    Psi+ on daily basis. Users who do not care about new trends and prefer
    constancy may choose Psi as it uses classical development model and its
    releases are very rare.
[4] https://packages.debian.org/sid/psi-plus-plugins
[5] https://salsa.debian.org/xmpp-team/psi-plus/-/blob/master/debian/changelog

Best regards,
Boris