Hi Collin,

On Wed, Jul 22, 2026 at 12:16:47AM +0100, Collin Funk wrote:
> I would assume snapshots are disabled on Savannah, since it likely
> invites bot spam.

Makes sense.

> Though trying to access gitweb gives me a 502 error at
> the moment, so I can't check if they are available on any repositories.

Yes, I saw some error pages earlier today indicating a switch to/from
freenginx to another nginx, which suggests ongoing maintenance work.

> This concerns me a bit. Does Nix actually use that Gnulib package to
> build GNU software?

Thanks for raising this understandable concern. Nix uses its
gnulib package to build certain software, but does not use it to
build groff. As far as I understand it, groff distribution archives are
self-contained and include everything from gnulib that is needed to
build groff.
I failed to update gnulib in nixpkgs because dependent projects expect
different versions with different functionality, and gnulib AFAIK
does not offer stable/versioned releases that could be referenced.

> I ask because the package is pinned to a commit from 2024 [1].

Glad you asked, Collin. For my own personal snapshot building setup,
I regularly check groff's git submodule to ensure that my Nix-based
build uses the exact same version of gnulib that's pinned within groff
for exactly the reason you state: To avoid wasting people's time
on chasing down already fixed bugs, while identifying potential issues
with recent changes to groff and building it with Nix.

Hopefully this alleviates your concern.


Best
Alexis

  • ... G. Branden Robinson
  • ... Nguyễn Gia Phong via discussion of the GNU roff typesetting system and related software
    • ... G. Branden Robinson
      • ... Nguyễn Gia Phong via discussion of the GNU roff typesetting system and related software
      • ... G. Branden Robinson
      • ... Nguyễn Gia Phong via discussion of the GNU roff typesetting system and related software
      • ... G. Branden Robinson
      • ... Nguyễn Gia Phong via discussion of the GNU roff typesetting system and related software
      • ... Alexis (surryhill)
      • ... Collin Funk
      • ... Alexis (surryhill)

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