On Sun, Jun 20, 2004 at 02:28:04PM +0100, Martin Michlmayr wrote: > * Matthew Palmer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> [2004-06-20 11:44]: > > I'll volunteer to check my own packages, with a couple of recommendations: > > I wish more people had an attitude like this. Maybe it would make > sense to ask people on d-d-a to review their own new packages and > consider whether it makes sense to release them, but I doubt many > people would be as honest[*] as you. > > [*] this may not be the best word, but I cannot think of anything > else.
Perhaps 'realistic'? I don't think a post to d-d-a could hurt particularly, and it might get a few maintainers to do it. It could even get some people looking at other people's packages. I'd write the e-mail something along these lines: Release is coming [blah blah blah] We ask that everyone objectively consider whether their own packages are in a fit state for release. Reasons for not releasing them include: * The version in testing may have release-critical bugs against it, although they weren't reported before the package made it to testing; * The package has received little or no use, and as such hasn't really been tested in the real world; * The package may be poorly or not maintained at all upstream; consider whether you would want to do all the support on the package for the next N years (until the next stable release). That's what we are committing to if the package goes into a stable release. * Although the package does not have RC bugs at this time, it is frequently in a buggy state, and you do not feel that it will be miraculously stable in the next month or two. * The APIs and/or interfaces in your package are not yet stable, and releasing it as-is, without a stable interface would be of detriment to the continued development of the program upstream. * You aren't really maintaining it as well as you could be, or you may have asked for adoption and nobody has come forward. [insert other reasons I've forgotten here] If you wish for a package to not be released, please do the following: 1) Report a bug with 'serious' severity against the package, with the following as part of the title '[not ready for release]'. 2) Ask the release team, at debian-release@lists.debian.org to remove the package from testing with their magical hints. If at some later date you feel that the above conditions no longer apply and the package in unstable *is* ready for release, you can let the package enter testing simply by closing the above-reported bug. No new upload is required. - Matt
