Outdated packages and arch-etiquette

patroclo7 · 2006-03-28 12:20:54

I have a question about arch-etiquette. I looked froward an answer around, but did not find it.

If one or more apps in the repos are out-of-date from a lot if time (a couple of months), have been already flagged as out-of-date, but nobody seems to care, is it wise and polite to email directly the maintainer? Or is it a rude behaviour I should avoid, since any maintainer has a well-established priorities list?

In this specific case, the apps I care about are xchat and moc (maintained by the same person), but I would like to know how I should behave in any other analogous situation.

Thanks for any tip.

pressh · 2006-03-28 12:29:17

The maintainers have indeed a well-established priority list. some applications are hold back for specific reasons, though don't know if that's the case for xchat and moc. As maintainers know which packages are flagged out of date, I would not email them about that, as they know what tasks they have, and what has priority.

If you can't wait for certain apps, you can always use abs to build the newer version.

iphitus · 2006-03-28 12:51:17

Although I would have my reasons (I hope i would at least) for not upgrading something for that long, I wouldnt have any problem with anyone emailing me about it if I had not made any announcements.

But hey, im the new dev on the block, not sure what other's preferences are.

James

tomk · 2006-03-28 12:58:20

moc was updated two days ago, btw.

Moo-Crumpus · 2006-03-28 13:18:28

I guess the devs are under highest pressure. Everybody wants this and that. As a non-dev, I would mark a package as outdated, and don't ask, presuming no packages are orphaned and devs have a lot more to do then answering my direct input. But maybe I am too polite.

Blaasvis · 2006-03-28 13:38:06

i do not like people emailing me, for example dbus was held back because no new functionality would be added and we need to rebuild xfce/gnome and kde... so no fun...

so not always everything will be updated instantly

if people want a reason they should talk to me on irc

JGC · 2006-03-28 17:20:27

I've had several PMs, emails, forum posts and I guess also a bugreport that krusader is out of date. It's not on my top-priority todo list, so it could take a while. At this moment, priority is getting the latest gnome, kde and gstreamer releases good enough for current/extra. After this, I'm able to update many of my out-of-date packages.

MAC!EK · 2006-03-28 19:27:08

Mayby we could help pkg maintainers somehow?
For example I made a PKGBUILD for the newest krusader and I could send it to JGC that he would have less work. (or mayby more? :> )

kpiche · 2006-03-28 19:49:26

I don't mind emails. The only exception is people flagging bmp when it's a dead project. Hence the bmpx in testing.

patroclo7 · 2006-03-28 21:07:22

I guess that the prevealing answer is that I should not send emails, it is enough to flag tha package outdated and to wait. I had no opinion, I only wanted to know how to behave. Thanks for your opinions and arguments.

IceRAM · 2006-03-28 21:21:48

Would it be possible, in the future (possible) integration with AUR, to have a list of comments to each package in the official repos?

The comments should be editable only by the maintainers, if there's something to tell about that package (or users start sending out-of-date mails). The webpage is a good place to put such comments because the web interface is the only place these notifications can be sent from. Also, it might be a good place to display install comments (the ones in post_install for example).

This way communication problems as the ones described above might be avoided.

Moo-Crumpus · 2006-03-28 22:19:19

That would mean additional work for the maintainers. They do newsletters and postings enough, if you kindly read them. I'ld vote a nay.

Arch Linux

#1 2006-03-28 12:20:54

Outdated packages and arch-etiquette

#2 2006-03-28 12:29:17

Re: Outdated packages and arch-etiquette

#3 2006-03-28 12:51:17

Re: Outdated packages and arch-etiquette

#4 2006-03-28 12:58:20

Re: Outdated packages and arch-etiquette

#5 2006-03-28 13:18:28

Re: Outdated packages and arch-etiquette

#6 2006-03-28 13:38:06

Re: Outdated packages and arch-etiquette

#7 2006-03-28 17:20:27

Re: Outdated packages and arch-etiquette

#8 2006-03-28 19:27:08

Re: Outdated packages and arch-etiquette

#9 2006-03-28 19:49:26

Re: Outdated packages and arch-etiquette

#10 2006-03-28 21:07:22

Re: Outdated packages and arch-etiquette

#11 2006-03-28 21:21:48

Re: Outdated packages and arch-etiquette

#12 2006-03-28 22:19:19

Re: Outdated packages and arch-etiquette

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