Arch Linux

huygens

Member

Registered: 2007-11-06

Posts: 10

Package "libmtp" not up to date

Hi!
I just recognized that the "libmtp" package in the repo has version 0.1.5 which is almost one year old.
The newest one is 0.2.4.
Could it be updated soon or is there anybody who could explain to me how I can install from the sources?

Thank you!

greets
huygens

nogoma

Member

From: Cranston, RI

Registered: 2006-03-01

Posts: 217

Re: Package "libmtp" not up to date

0.2.4 is in [testing].

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Code Happy, Code Ruby!
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huygens

Member

Registered: 2007-11-06

Posts: 10

Re: Package "libmtp" not up to date

Does this mean it will be available soon in the stable repos or will I have to install it from testing?
thanks
huygens

batistuta

Member

Registered: 2007-05-13

Posts: 11

Re: Package "libmtp" not up to date

I'm having the same issue. My Zen player doesn't work with the old libmtp. Why doesn't the newest version get bumped to unstable or whatever, but out of testing? Does it break things? I mean.... the "current" version is very very very old, and I think this is an important package...

.:B:.

Forum Fellow

Registered: 2006-11-26

Posts: 5,819

Website

Re: Package "libmtp" not up to date

Either grab the one in testing and the packages that depend on it (if the shared library version name has been updated, you need to), or build it yourself .

The PKGBUILDs are all over the place.

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Got Leenucks? :: Arch: Power in simplicity :: Get Counted! Registered Linux User #392717 :: Blog thingy

batistuta

Member

Registered: 2007-05-13

Posts: 11

Re: Package "libmtp" not up to date

B, thanks for the suggestion. I've though about doing that but honestly I don't feel like investing time on that,  taking care of the dependencies et all. I believe a one-year old library like limtp, which is used by quite a few people, is something that should be really handled upstream rather and me compiling from source.

I know that this is volunteer project and all that, I'm not complaining at the distro. But my point is that  if we want to have a distro that is somehow up-to-date, we must provide the packages that are expected by the community. And I think this is one of them. The package is available in testing so I'm wondering why it is not moved to unstable or something else. If someone told me "it would break this and this and this...." then I'd say thanks and shut up. But if it is just because no one cares, then I've thought it was worth mentioning. Other distros I have installed (Gentoo, Fedora) have been up-to-date here, so I don't get it why Arch can't.

bender02

Member

From: UK

Registered: 2007-02-04

Posts: 1,328

Re: Package "libmtp" not up to date

batistuta: I don't understand what are talking about. Noone asks you to compile anything. The new libmtp is in [testing] repo, which means it's being tested, and when devs decide that it's stable enough, they move it to [extra]. That also means that all you need to do is to either enable [testing] in pacman.conf (which you might not want to do), or manually download the package libmtp-0.2.4-<arch>.pkg.tar.gz and pacman -U it. Not good enough for you?

.:B:.

Forum Fellow

Registered: 2006-11-26

Posts: 5,819

Website

Re: Package "libmtp" not up to date

B, thanks for the suggestion. I've though about doing that but honestly I don't feel like investing time on that,  taking care of the dependencies et all. I believe a one-year old library like limtp, which is used by quite a few people, is something that should be really handled upstream rather and me compiling from source.

Just upgrade to testing, 2.4 has the same so version as 2.3 (i.e. 7). So it won't break any apps depending on it.

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Got Leenucks? :: Arch: Power in simplicity :: Get Counted! Registered Linux User #392717 :: Blog thingy

phrakture

Arch Overlord

From: behind you

Registered: 2003-10-29

Posts: 7,879

Website

Re: Package "libmtp" not up to date

I'd send an email to Damir and ask him to move it out of testing. Dunno how long it has been there.

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http://phraktured.net

batistuta

Member

Registered: 2007-05-13

Posts: 11

Re: Package "libmtp" not up to date

batistuta: I don't understand what are talking about. Noone asks you to compile anything. The new libmtp is in [testing] repo, which means it's being tested, and when devs decide that it's stable enough, they move it to [extra]. That also means that all you need to do is to either enable [testing] in pacman.conf (which you might not want to do), or manually download the package libmtp-0.2.4-<arch>.pkg.tar.gz and pacman -U it. Not good enough for you?

bender02, it is not really a *problem* per se. I'm just trying to bring up an issue, which I think could help other people.
The reason why we have a cool package manager like Pacman is so that updates happen automatically. If people now need to go and grab the packages manually, then the whole idea of a package manager doesn't make sense.
That's why, instead of downloading the package (what would just solve *my* problem) I'm suggesting (or asking why) the lib doesn't go into extra. That would benefit everyone.

I'll follow phrakture's suggestion and email Damir
Thanks to all for the help

bender02

Member

From: UK

Registered: 2007-02-04

Posts: 1,328

Re: Package "libmtp" not up to date

@batistuta: I'm sorry, I got steamed up a bit, particularly by this part

we must provide the packages that are expected by the community

My understanding of Arch is that a bunch of people (devs) devote their free time to maintain the distribution (and do a great job in my opinion) and do decisions based on their knowledge/time/understanding. If I like it (which I mostly do so far), then great; if not, then, well, I have to fix it myself. What "community wants" might be interesting to know, but by no means a rule to follow. Also, it is hard to say what is it that "community wants", because you can always find a couple of people supporting anything.

It's getting a bit lengthy, so to wrap up: I understand Arch as "enlightened dictatorship", not as "democracy".

I'm no dev though, so I might be totally off. I'm definitely off topic...

EDIT: I forgot to say, your request is actually quite reasonable. So no offense meant by the rant above.

Last edited by bender02 (2008-01-18 19:56:54)

huygens

Member

Registered: 2007-11-06

Posts: 10

Re: Package "libmtp" not up to date

I managed to install the new version by enabling the testing repo and doing a

pacman -Sy libmtp

afterwards i disabled [testing] again to have my "usual" updates.
This worked fine and i had no problems.
I would also be very happy if the package could be moved to [extra] (is this the proper place?) but as it works this way, too you should not blame some devs for not doing their work. There might be some more important stuff.

At least i think this package is quite special and only few people might need it. So nevermind if its less supported.

greets
huygens

batistuta

Member

Registered: 2007-05-13

Posts: 11

Re: Package "libmtp" not up to date

Damir has kindly moved libmtp 2.4-1 from testing to extra
Thanks Damir!