I was meaning to finish this work and to also go back and double-check to
see if the situation has changed, but I was sick last weekend and ran out
of time. Bearing in mind that the date on each one of these entries is
the last time I checked the package status, here are my notes on a bunch
of orphaned packages in case they might be useful.
This isn't comprehensive; the things missing from this list are packages
where either the package seems well-maintained as an orphaned package or
what should be done with it is not clear.
aspseek (2005-08-24) REMOVE
Has never released with Debian, Apache module under a GPL license
conflicting with the Apache license, no upstream activity in three
years, 15 popcon installations and only 4 votes. Would need a
maintainer to pursue a licensing change with an inactive upstream or
remove the Apache module component. There are other packages in the
archive serving a similar purpose (htdig and swish-e, for instance).
Orphaned 2005-08-05.
august (2005-08-24) UPLOAD
One bug in the BTS with a man page and translation that should be
included. Needs standards version work.
Orphaned 2005-06-10.
bbsload (2005-08-24) UPLOAD
Patch in the BTS to make the package work with the 2.6 kernel, needs
upload to change maintainer.
Orphaned 2005-08-02.
cantus (2005-08-24) UPLOAD
Has never released with Debian. FTBFS with patch in the BTS. Has a
few other minor bugs that probably wouldn't be hard to fix.
Orphaned 2004-12-31.
chastity-list (2005-08-24) REMOVE
This is a list of sites to block for a Squid proxy, and by its very
nature is inherently not useful unless it is actively maintained.
Upstream is dead as of 2004 and hasn't done a release since 2001,
which means this package is very rapidly becoming useless.
Orphaned 2005-08-06.
chos (2005-08-24) REMOVE
Boot loader. Upstream is dead (no release since 1999). The main
feature of the boot loader is to provide a menu on boot, since taken
care of by grub. FTBFS. There are other, better maintained packages
in the archive serving a similar purpose. Only 5 popcon
installations, no votes.
Orphaned 2004-08-05.
fhist (2005-08-24) UPLOAD
No major bugs, could use a maintenance upload to update standards
version and section.
Orphaned 2004-11-03.
gsmartcard (2005-08-24) UPLOAD
Has a translation patch in the BTS and an override disparity, and
could use a standards version update.
Orphaned 2005-01-02.
gtk-mist-engine (2005-08-24) UPLOAD
Needs an upload to change maintainer and fix the last upload, which
was believed to be an NMU.
Orphaned 2005-08-01.
hanterm-classic (2005-08-24) UPLOAD
Minor bug in the last upload that needs a fix in alternatives
handling.
Orphaned 2005-01-17.
ksocrat (2005-08-24) UPLOAD
Package needs to move to contrib since its data has moved to non-free
and also needs the maintainer changed. Caught up in the C++ migration
due to KDE dependencies, so some caution is needed to ensure it's
ready to be rebuilt. There's also a new upstream available and a
request to include it.
If uploading this one, one should also look at ksocrat-data and see if
it needs an upload as well.
Orphaned 2005-08-05.
langband, langband-data (2005-08-24) UPLOAD
langband-data contains non-free fonts and needs work to use free
TrueType fonts instead (if possible), which would unblock langband and
let them migrate into testing. Neither were ever released with
Debian.
Orphaned 2005-02-28.
libconfhelper-perl (2005-08-24) UPLOAD
There is apparently no upstream for this, or at least there's no
upstream URL noted in the copyright file and the package was
originally maintained by the upstream author. There are a few
wishlist bugs that look easy to fix. The only package that depends on
this package is etherconf, but that's a moderately popular package.
Orphaned 2004-02-19.
libconfig-general-perl (2005-08-24) UPLOAD
Last upload appeared to be an NMU to the archive software. Upstream
URL has changed. Package is otherwise in very good shape and is
fairly popular.
Orphaned 2005-01-09.
libcorba-orbit-perl (2005-08-24) UPLOAD
FTBFS that looks easy to fix.
Orphaned 2004-11-05.
liblingua-ispell-perl (2005-08-24) UPLOAD
Even though the orphaning bug indicates that the package should be
removed, it's used by another package and seems like a reasonable Perl
module that people would want. It has 61 installations and 10 votes
in popcon. Needs an upload to change the maintainer and properly
acknowledge NMU bugs.
Orphaned 2005-08-05.
libopengl-perl (2005-08-24) UPLOAD
Currently FTBFS due to changes in OpenGL constants, from the looks of
it. Needs some attention. The source is a forked version of the
original upstream since the original upstream seems to be dead. A
dependency of libgtk-perl, so removing doesn't look that attractive.
132 installs and 17 votes in popcon.
Orphaned 2004-11-05.
log4cpp, log4cpp-doc (2005-08-24) UPLOAD
Currently removed from testing. There's an RC request for a new
upstream version. It appears to have no reverse dependencies, and
should therefore be eligible for an upload. I'm not sure why the
documentation is a separate source package.
The WNPP bug for this package is odd. It has a recorded owner, but
it's still titled O. And the bug has a help tag, but with no
explanation?
Orphaned 2005-01-03.
lwp (2005-08-24) REMOVE
Package exists only in experimental and has not existed in the main
archive since 2000. Has never released with Debian. Since it's only
in experimental, nothing in the main archive could possibly depend on
it. I don't see any point in keeping this one.
Orphaned 2005-06-28.
mgm (2005-08-24) UPLOAD
Possibly could be removed, since there are other packages that do the
same thing, but it's pretty simple and upstream still exists. There
is a patch in the BTS that should be applied and the maintainer needs
to be changed.
Orphaned 2005-08-17.
mmx-emu (2005-08-24) UPLOAD
Only seven installations and one vote in popcon and a dead upstream,
but I don't see, in a quick search, anything else in the archive that
has a similar purpose. Uses debmake for the build system, which is
the source of one of the two outstanding bugs. Could use a build
system cleanup.
Orphaned 2004-11-19.
mozilla-locale-it (2005-08-24) UPLOAD
Not sure how hard this is to update, but it needs an update for the
current mozilla. Very newly orphaned, however, so someone may adopt
it before there's a need for a QA upload.
Orphaned 2005-08-22.
nasm-mode (2005-08-24) UPLOAD
Debian-native package, which is rather odd. There's an easy-to-fix
bug in the BTS asking that it depend on emacsen rather than xemacs,
since it works with regular Emacs.
Orphaned 2004-10-21.
openmcl, openmcl-build-tools (2005-08-24) REMOVE
openmcl is currently versioned like a native package with a ton of CVS
directories, despite the fact that it's an upstream package. Only
supports powerpc, no popcon installations at all, and the README
indicates there are serious packaging problems for the average user.
Needs serious work if it's going to be kept.
Orphaned 2005-02-28.
re2c (2005-08-24) UPLOAD
Maintainer needs to be updated and there's a request for the packaging
of a new upstream version. An upload has already been prepared for it
and just needs sponsoring.
Orphaned 2005-08-17.
relay-ctrl (2005-08-24) UPLOAD (contrib)
There is a much newer upstream version available and a bug asking for
someone to package it. There are also description problems that could
easily be dealt with. 10 active users are reporting via popcon.
Orphaned 2004-03-11.
robotour (2005-08-24) UPLOAD
Needs a FTBFS with gcc 4.0 fixed and a rebuild for the C++ transition.
Currently being removed from testing.
Orphaned 2005-07-03.
--
Russ Allbery ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>
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