In coordination with Norbert Preining, I propose a MBF against all packages depending on or build-depending on texi2html, asking them to transition from the `texi2html' utility to the `makeinfo' utility from the texinfo package, with the end goal of being able to remove the texi2html package from the archive. This is because:
1) texi2html is dead upstream since 2011 and has been superseeded by Texinfo, as documented on the texi2html front page[0]. 2) texi2html is currently orphaned in Debian since 2013-01-13[1] (I currently have it ITA'd). 3) transitioning from texi2html to makeinfo can be done with minimal effort, see e.g., this patch against bc[2], and now seems to be the opportune time to perform such a transition. There are 94 reverse-build-dependencies and 2 reverse-dependencies according to the `reverse-depends' tool. I am prepared to file the bugs against the affected packages, to prepare a lintian check warning against the use of texi2html, to prepare a wiki page documenting how to transition from texi2html to makeinfo, and to start submitting patches. See attached for a dd-list of affected packages. Depending on how pressing people think this issue is, the bugs can have severity wishlist, minor, or normal—I'm leaning towards minor, please let me know if you have a strong opinion otherwise. The proposed bug text is as follows: -- BEGIN -- Dear maintainer, [ This is an automated bug report, submitted as part of the mass bug filing discussed at TODO-ADD-URL-TO-DEVEL-THREAD-HERE ] The texi2html package on which your package depends or build-depends is destined to be removed from the archive in the near future. Please update your package to use the `makeinfo' utility from the texinfo package instead. More details may be found at http://wiki.debian.org/Texi2htmlTransition . Thanks for considering, Best wishes. -- END -- Best wishes, Ryan [0] http://www.nongnu.org/texi2html/ [1] http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=698081 [2] http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=collab-maint/bc.git;a=commitdiff;h=8f6f51467bcb6487579f5372697863bcfb14018a#patch2 -- |_)|_/ Ryan Kavanagh | Debian Developer | \| \ http://ryanak.ca/ | GPG Key 4A11C97A
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