On Sun, 2006-12-31 at 19:11 +0000, Digby Tarvin wrote: > On Sun, Dec 31, 2006 at 07:31:04PM +0100, Sven Arvidsson wrote: > > On Sun, 2006-12-31 at 17:37 +0000, Digby Tarvin wrote: > > > Here is what it says: > > [...] > > > Maintainer: Fabian Greffrath <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > > That says it all, doesn't it? > > Afraid the name doesn't mean anything to me.
As it's maintained by someone with an debian-unofficial.org address, I take that as an indication that it's a package from their archives, and not one from the official Debian ones. You could also look in the documentation of the package (/usr/share/doc/packagename) and see if there are any clues in changelog.Debian.gz, README.Debian etc. > Sorry, couldn't find the message you are referring to - was it posted under > the same name? All I can find other than the the one I am replying to > is This link, http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=98215 From the bug report: "It turns out that after several years including xv in the non-free archive that we are not allowed to distribute modified binaries." > Is there a history file/database somewhere where additions and > removals from the official debian package repository are logged? > Something which came back with 'removed on such and such a date > for such and such a reason' would be so much more useful than > a database which only mentioned packages that still existed. > > After all, if there is a philosophical objection to a package on > some ground, removing it makes a much stronger statement if people > know why it isn't there. Packages being removed from a stable release is often mentioned in the news of the new release, see here for example. http://www.debian.org/News/2005/20050416 There's also a page here, listing software that cannot be packaged, http://www.debian.org/devel/wnpp/unable-to-package None of these are easy to find, and not really what you are looking for, so I can see why it's a bit frustrating. -- Cheers, Sven Arvidsson http://www.whiz.se PGP Key ID 760BDD22
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