So, the Terminal issue was fixed some time ago, so we don't have to worry about that. That was just an example of a bug which *has* happened before. I'm sorry I wasn't clear enough. Devin Prater r.d.t.pra...@gmail.com
On Tue, Mar 22, 2022 at 5:52 AM Jean-Philippe MENGUAL <jpmeng...@debian.org> wrote: > > Le 22/03/2022 à 04:10, Devin Prater a écrit : > > Thanks. I tried to think of good, useful questions to spark discussion, > > but I don't know much about the structure of Debian or its project > > leaders. I do think, though, that if the project leader keeps > > accessibility in mind, this will filter down throughout Debian as a > whole. > > You are right, and thanks to give visibility fot this matter here. > > > > > As far as backports, my problem is enabling it. Normal desktop users > > probably won't even know what that is, and the syntax is rather ugly, to > > me at least. I'd personally like to see accessibility on the same level > > as security or very important bug fix updates, because sometimes they > > are, especially when something like the Terminal bug happened with Orca, > > where Orca couldn't read the Mate Terminal. Another thing is braille > > support. BRLTTY, the package for driving Braille displays, gets updated > > like once every three months or so with support for new Braille displays. > > What you describe are issues mainly related to upstream development. The > fact Orca has problems in a terminal (I think I know this) should be > reported and discussedon the orcamailing list, as it is the place where > the development happens. Debian is only a distribution, ie. a place to > make easier getting packages usable. But a distro should not patch so > much a program, in particular it cannot bring new features or fix bugs. > Some maintainers do, but often because they maintain the package and the > program upstream. It is not the case for graphical accessibility tools, > where maintainers in Debian (thanks Samuel, Paul and few others) are > often different from the upstream developers. Tools such as > speech-dispatcher are maintained by accessibility team upstream and in > Debian, for instance. > > So the best thing you can do to report such problems is writing to the > orca mailing list so that they are in the todo list of the developer. > And indeed, Orca in a terminal is not optimum. > > For braille, the thing is to know if a new version of brltty supports a > display you have and which is not yet supported in stable. Ti is a kind > of program where upgrades are not required as few new features appear, > except sometimes (cut and paste recently introduced in graphical > interface). So if it adds a driver for your device, indeed, a backport > is a good idea. > > > > > > This isn't to say that Debian's accessibility is awful; it's one of the > > best among all Linux distributions, because the user is guided from > > installation to first system boot. It's nice. I know the project leader > > can't be everything to all people, and there are legal, security, and > > other community issues, but it would be nice if whoever is elected to > > remember us, and setting aside a day to work on accessibility issues > > would be an amazing start. And since Debian is the root of a lot of > > other distributions, and even the default container in Google's Crostini > > Linux thing, we can show both other FOSS projects, and big > > corporations (corpses) that FOSS doesn't have to only be for people who > > are privileged enough to have all senses and use of their bodies and > minds. > > +1 > > > Devin Prater > > r.d.t.pra...@gmail.com <mailto:r.d.t.pra...@gmail.com> > > > > > > > > > > On Mon, Mar 21, 2022 at 5:46 PM Samuel Thibault <sthiba...@debian.org > > <mailto:sthiba...@debian.org>> wrote: > > > > Hello, > > > > Devin, thanks for bringing accessibility questions in :) > > > > Jean-Philippe MENGUAL, le lun. 21 mars 2022 23:37:03 +0100, a ecrit: > > > Again, not sur the DPL can have a crucial role about this, > > > unfortunately. > > > > I agree, a DPL cannot make current maintainers magically find time to > > work on issues :) > > > > > Perhaps, however, in order to give more visibility to the topic, > he > > > may ping them more frequently during his public statements > (Debconf, > > > bits, debian-news) so make them talk about their work progress. > > > > Agreed as well: advertising the will of Debian to progress on this > > front, and that help is welcome, *can* make new maintainers come up. > > > > Samuel > > > >
