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#1 2008-06-26 17:00:57

timetrap
Member
From: Here and There
Registered: 2008-06-05
Posts: 342
Website

Adopt an Orphaned Package

Currently, in the AUR, there are 855 orphaned packages; games, utilities, and even a few kernels have been left in the cold. For just a few hours a month you can adopt one (or more) of these orphaned packages.

Being an Arch Noob (using Arch for less than a month) I find myself in awe of many of the users, maintainers, and admins that I encounter. They have excellent knowledge of the Arch system and can usually figure out any problem I throw at them.

But I have been asking myself two questions;

1. How can I give back to the community that has helped me so much?

2. What do I need to do to learn more about Arch (and by extension LINUX in general)?

Well Arch has answered both of these questions; The AUR.

The AUR offers an opportunity to not only give back to the Arch community, it also presents an opportunity to learn more about LINUX.

I just adopted the bcwipe package, and look forward to maintaining it (it's a perfect beginners package too, no dependencies, mainly just bug fixes).

If you are considering adopting (or creating) a package, choose one that means something to you. Maybe its a game you like to play, or maybe a utility you think is very useful.  By picking something that is interesting to you the time you spend maintaining it will seem like playing rather than working.

To get started,

Click on the AUR link in the upper right hand portion of the website
Click the Packages link
Leave the search box blank and click the Orphans button

You will also need to make an AUR Account to adopt an Orphan

A few links to get you started

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/PKGBUILD
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/AUR
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Makepkg


Good Luck!

Last edited by timetrap (2008-06-26 17:07:09)

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#2 2008-06-26 17:15:52

pressh
Developer/TU
From: Netherlands
Registered: 2005-08-14
Posts: 1,719

Re: Adopt an Orphaned Package

good job, keep up the good work! smile

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#3 2008-06-26 18:04:12

brynjolf
Member
From: Sweden
Registered: 2008-05-25
Posts: 63

Re: Adopt an Orphaned Package

Sticky !

Question: is it still worth adopting a package if its up-to-date and working?
Answer:
...?

Last edited by brynjolf (2008-06-26 19:33:13)


Cerebral: "Welcome to the distro.  You'll never leave.  Mwahaha"

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#4 2008-06-26 18:06:42

Dusty
Schwag Merchant
From: Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada
Registered: 2004-01-18
Posts: 5,986
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#5 2008-06-26 18:11:17

lucke
Member
From: Poland
Registered: 2004-11-30
Posts: 4,018

Re: Adopt an Orphaned Package

Shiny!

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#6 2008-06-26 20:14:59

Garns
Member
Registered: 2008-05-28
Posts: 239

Re: Adopt an Orphaned Package

brynjolf wrote:

Question: is it still worth adopting a package if its up-to-date and working?

If its orphaned and you're interested in maintaining it, go for it! smile  Why shouldn't you?

The next version will come...

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#7 2008-06-26 23:20:21

Daenyth
Forum Fellow
From: Boston, MA
Registered: 2008-02-24
Posts: 1,244

Re: Adopt an Orphaned Package

Anyone who maintains packages might want my pkgtools package. There should be some more updates coming soon.

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#8 2008-06-27 01:56:14

timetrap
Member
From: Here and There
Registered: 2008-06-05
Posts: 342
Website

Re: Adopt an Orphaned Package

brynjolf wrote:

Question: is it still worth adopting a package if its up-to-date and working?
Answer:
...?

I would say yes. Adopting a package allows for a couple of different things to happen.

1. Over time the adopter should become THE local expert about the package, so when the community has questions, they can be answered.

2. "Working" is a relative term, because of the rolling release system that Arch uses, Tuesday's version may break things that run fine in Monday's version. Package maintainers hold the line against entropy.

3. Having a maintainer gives the sense that someone cares, and will be around to answer questions. This increases confidence in fence sitters and allows the community to grow larger.

Don't feel shy about taking on packages that are "simple" or "stable". Remember; Arch is built to be "simple" and "stable".

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#9 2008-06-27 02:02:32

kensai
Member
From: Puerto Rico
Registered: 2005-06-03
Posts: 2,484
Website

Re: Adopt an Orphaned Package

Garns wrote:

The next version will come...

No if it is Duke Nukem Forever... tongue


Follow me in: Identi.ca, Twitter, Google+

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#10 2008-06-27 12:52:34

Factory
Member
Registered: 2008-02-24
Posts: 108

Re: Adopt an Orphaned Package

I just adopted 2 myself, which led me to submit one of my own!

Anyone new to PKGBUILD creation/submission will want to check out pkgman.

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#11 2008-06-27 17:32:07

low
Member
Registered: 2007-07-04
Posts: 109

Re: Adopt an Orphaned Package

Adopted beaver, not really going to use it but what the hey big_smile. I'll probably go through a few more out of summer boredom...

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#12 2008-06-28 08:47:32

brynjolf
Member
From: Sweden
Registered: 2008-05-25
Posts: 63

Re: Adopt an Orphaned Package

I adopted a package (waiting for another package to be uploaded) and added my own, a facebook chat plug for pidgin smile was a lot more fun than I thought. So in short, do it big_smile


Cerebral: "Welcome to the distro.  You'll never leave.  Mwahaha"

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#13 2008-07-18 21:35:27

ThomasBisset
Member
From: Nairn, Scotland
Registered: 2008-07-16
Posts: 22
Website

Re: Adopt an Orphaned Package

Quick question, and one where I'm going to come across as a complete idiot - what's actually involved in maintaining a package?

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#14 2008-07-18 21:44:46

moljac024
Member
From: Serbia
Registered: 2008-01-29
Posts: 2,676

Re: Adopt an Orphaned Package

kensai wrote:
Garns wrote:

The next version will come...

No if it is Duke Nukem Forever... tongue

You mean Duke Nukem Takes Forever ? wink


The day Microsoft makes a product that doesn't suck, is the day they make a vacuum cleaner.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
But if they tell you that I've lost my mind, maybe it's not gone just a little hard to find...

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#15 2008-08-04 22:15:06

xelados
Member
Registered: 2007-06-02
Posts: 314
Website

Re: Adopt an Orphaned Package

ThomasBisset wrote:

Quick question, and one where I'm going to come across as a complete idiot - what's actually involved in maintaining a package?

I'm also curious about this. I'm afraid my programming (and bash) knowledge is quite unremarkable, and the last thing I'd want to do is screw up a package by poorly maintaining it.

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#16 2008-08-05 21:47:06

Asgaroth
Member
From: Hesse, Germany
Registered: 2008-03-26
Posts: 58

Re: Adopt an Orphaned Package

ThomasBisset wrote:

Quick question, and one where I'm going to come across as a complete idiot - what's actually involved in maintaining a package?

Watching out for new versions of the application, upgrade it, test for any bugs/breakages specific to Arch(general bugs(/patches for them) in the application should be reported upstream), try to fix them and provide new pkgbuilds for the new versions. These should be the main tasks.

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#17 2008-08-18 20:32:24

angvp
Forum Fellow
From: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Registered: 2008-05-15
Posts: 32
Website

Re: Adopt an Orphaned Package

We have orphans in community too, if you think that you can maintain it as well, you should apply to be a TU.

http://archlinux.org/pipermail/aur-gene … 08285.html

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#18 2008-08-20 13:14:55

totalwormage
Member
From: The Netherlands
Registered: 2008-08-02
Posts: 16
Website

Re: Adopt an Orphaned Package

Adopted a package and got a vote! Seems like someone liked it :]], this feels good!

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#19 2008-08-20 15:20:20

Inxsible
Forum Fellow
From: Chicago
Registered: 2008-06-09
Posts: 9,183

Re: Adopt an Orphaned Package

I also wanted to point out a small bug in the AUR

I searched for a package and then tried to adopt it. It was in the [community] repo which I failed to notice initially. I adopted it and it told me that 'The selected packages have been adopted'

When I searched my packages - of course it did not return that package in the list. If the forum mods could fix it so that it gives an error message saying something like "You cannot adopt this package because you are not a TU", it would make more sense.

Just my 2 cents.


Forum Rules

There's no such thing as a stupid question, but there sure are a lot of inquisitive idiots !

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#20 2008-08-20 16:11:11

tigrmesh
IRC Op
From: Florida, US
Registered: 2007-12-11
Posts: 794

Re: Adopt an Orphaned Package

Inxsible wrote:

I also wanted to point out a small bug in the AUR
*snip*
If the forum mods could fix it so that it gives an error message saying something like "You cannot adopt this package because you are not a TU", it would make more sense.

Arch devs don't always have time to read the forums.  Post a feature request in the bug tracker (follow the Bugs link at the top right of this page).

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#21 2008-09-06 00:44:40

chochem
Member
From: Denmark
Registered: 2008-03-02
Posts: 176
Website

Re: Adopt an Orphaned Package

I've tried my hand at hand at rungetty: no dependencies (apart from glibc), no configure file, just make make install - don't wanna get too adventurous smile

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