> Timothy Pearson wrote: >>> Why isn't it possible to let the Trinity repository contain updated >>> versions of those offending packages? When the Trinity versions have a >>> higher version number, I would expect they would automatically be used >>> over the standard Ubuntu ones. >> This is due to the fact that they have a different name, e.g. >> kdelibs-kde3 >> instead of kdelibs. I could make kdelibs-kde3 conflict with kdelibs, >> but >> I seem to remember that a peculiar side effect crept in when I did that >> in >> the past. I can re-enable the conflict statement and see if any >> problems >> occur...thoughts anyone? > > I understand that it's not trivial to have a package without the -kde3 > suffix? Yes, for a number of reasons. > > If you enable the conflict statement, then you should also enable the > provides statement. I opened a bug that some packages miss it. It will > allow kdbg from the normal Ubuntu repository to work against the Trinity > libraries for example. Not really; that is only true while the ABI does not change. It has changed significantly in Trinity, which will cause all kinds of symbol not found runtime errors when attempting to run binaries from the old official package. > > >>> And does anyone know if it would be possible to take over maintenance >>> upstream, either at Debian or with Ubuntu? What is their stance about >>> providing the KDE 3 libs based on Trinity sources? >> I don't know. Now that there is an upstream again in the form of >> Trinity >> they may be more receptive to the idea. The process should start with >> Debian, as Ubuntu mirrors Debian's package offerings for the most part. >> The only issue is that Debian wants an on-call package maintainer, and I >> am too swamped with the Trinity project itself to properly fill that >> role. >> >> Any volunteers? ;-) > > Does anyone know what the duties and requirements of an on-call package > manager would be? :) It is a somewhat convoluted process, with useful information somewhat hard to come by (I have very little knowledge in this particular area myself.) Some information is available here: http://www.debian.org/doc/maint-guide/ http://wiki.debian.org/DebianMaintainer http://www.debian.org/devel/join/newmaint Honestly I would join a Debian developer's list and ask what would be involved in packaging and maintaining Trinity for Debian. Much of the packaging can be cloned from the Debian packages on the QuickBuild system, but there are other responsibilities that you would need to agree to IIRC, including prompt security patch application and a few other things. Hope this helps! Tim