[gentoo-dev] net-misc/iputils, why is the latest p'masked?

[Joshua Kinard]

So I am trying to make a stage3 run with catalyst for a MIPS-II/BE setup using
sys-libs/uclibc-ng.  Ran into a bit of a blocker with
net-misc/iputils-20151218, which is the latest version that isn't masked.
Specifically, the 'ping' utility will not build against uclibc-ng because of an
undefined reference to `__finite'.  This issue has been fixed in
iputils-20160308, by making 'ping' link with libm.  However, iputils-20160308
is p'masked with this vague reason:

    # Lars Wendler <polynomial-c@g.o> (20 Aug 2015)
    # Releases are not from original upstream but from a fork.
    # Masked as requested by vapier.
    ~net-misc/iputils-20160308

So this raises a couple of options, and I'm not sure of what the best
resolution is:

- Unmask iputils-20160308?  What's specifically wrong with this forked variant?

- Finish removing 'ping' from @system, per Bug #563148 (blocked by #393445)?

The first option is arguably the cleanest, because the build issue will likely
be encountered again if one rebuilds @world.  But there seems to be a bit of a
conflict because 20160308 is from a forked upstream, and the "activeness" of
the original upstream appears to be in question.

Second option gets around the issue from a catalyst standpoint, but anyone
compiling iputils-20151218 in this specific stage against uclibc-ng will
probably encounter the build issue.

There is a patch for the issue, but it does not apply cleanly to
iputils-20151218.  However, it is simple enough to backport.  But I'd prefer
the easier option of unmasking 20160308.

Thoughts on how to proceed?

-- 
Joshua Kinard
Gentoo/MIPS
kumba@g.o
6144R/F5C6C943 2015-04-27
177C 1972 1FB8 F254 BAD0 3E72 5C63 F4E3 F5C6 C943

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