Re: [gentoo-dev] Re: Lastrite: app-pda/libopensync and reverse dependencies

[Alec Warner]

On Thu, Feb 10, 2011 at 4:15 PM, Ryan Hill <dirtyepic@g.o> wrote:
> On Thu, 10 Feb 2011 21:49:53 +0100
> Diego Elio Pettenò <flameeyes@×××××.com> wrote:
>
>> Il giorno gio, 10/02/2011 alle 14.08 -0600, Ryan Hill ha scritto:
>> > Hey, here's an idea.  Before you go making big masks like this for
>> > packages
>> > several people depend on, maybe try looking for a maintainer.
>>
>> That is *exactly* what these masks are. And you should know there is
>> *no* "five minutes fix".
>
> Seriously?  You prefer to let things get so bad it has to be removed before
> looking for someone to work on it?  If you think this is a better way to do
> QA than an email saying "Hey, this package needs some attention. Anyone want
> to look at it before it gets too bad?" then I really don't know what to say.

1) Most of the packages touched in this manner are usually
maintainer-wanted / needed or haven't been touched in years.  I don't
think sending email every week saying 'hey who wants to work on fixing
X' is really that effective in getting help.

2) What is effective is masking a package and telling people you are
doing to delete it in X days.  Audiences who do not read email (or do
not subscribe to this list) notice when they can't install something
anymore.

Is it annoying to folks?  Sure.  I'm not sure how much more annoying
it is than trying to build some package that has been in the tree
since 2004 but hasn't been touched since 2007 and doesn't build on a
modern system.

I would prefer this process not become the perfect bureaucratic storm.

-A

>
>
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