I can give you somewhat authoritative answers for Bitcoin and Electrum (see below sections).
Regarding `phatch`, it was available up through Artful but was removed for Bionic (18.04) because of its dependencies on python-imaging, and details on all this are available in the Launchpad bug for the request of its removal. [1] (`phatch` was probably not the only one removed in this, though) [1]: https://launchpad.net/bugs/1746406 ------ First up: `bitcoin-*` (including bitcoin-qt). The Bitcoin client, both its backend and its frontend in Qt, undergo rapid development and changes regularly, including protocol changes which require you to be on the latest version of the Bitcoin clients. Because of the introduction of hard forks and incompatibilities with older packages, this was blacklisted in Ubuntu from autosyncing and was removed. It has been blacklisted since 2013. [2] And at the same time of blacklisting, a `bitcoin` dummy package was put in its place instead. [3] This said, there's a Bitcoin PPA that at the time was kept updated, and it was determined that users should use that instead. (I do not know if it's still updated) Because of the constant changes, and continued introduction of incompatibilities as the Bitcoin network and protocol continue to undergo changes, it was requested to have it removed. And that request was granted. [2]: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/bitcoin/+bug/1260602 [3]: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/bitcoin/+bug/1314616 ------ Secondly, let's look at Electrum. There was consideration for the removal of Electrum back in August of 2015. Further, Debian upstream had identified issues with Electrum versions of 2.0 and later during compiling (this is detailed in the Debian bug on this [4]), which included reasons such as: * Incompatibilities with Electrum 2.0+ versions in Debian and Ubuntu (see the Debian bug [4]), including: o A dependency on the packages `tlslite` which was removed from Debian, and o Poor handling of certificate verification which includes an MITM attack vector in Upstream code (Security flaw). * Additional changes in Electrum 2.0+ which break reverse compatibility: o A bitcoin blockchain soft-fork which only newer electrum knew about o Significant client-to-server improvements, which only exist in 2.0+ code, and o Wallet seed codes from newer versions not working with older versions. There was a discussion between me and Ian Lane of the MOTU team at the time, and they forwarded me to the Security team. A discussion between myself, Steve Beattie, and Seth Arnold came to a conclusion that, for the aforementioned reasons and due to changes in the Bitcoin protocol and such breaking prior versions (and it being known that there are such soft and hard forks which introduce unmaintainable incompatibilities, and that there would be those in the future) that may be introduced which will affect Electrum as well, that all these reasons warranted removing Electrum from Ubuntu Wily (15.10) during the development cycle while also blacklisting it from autosync. (All the information about the incompatibilities, etc. are listed in the Ubuntu bug report requesting removal of the package. [5]) [4]: https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=792231#22 [5]: https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=792231#22 So, for Bitcoin and Electrum, that's the details for why those are not in Ubuntu anymore. ------ Consider also that there is a list of blacklisted packages which never sync anymore from Debian to Ubuntu during autosyncs. Bitcoin and Electrum are not the only ones on this blacklist of packages to not autosync from Debian anymore, but they are worthy of the list for all the aforementioned reasons. Thomas LP: ~teward On 03/15/2018 12:28 PM, Михаил Новоселов, Думалогия wrote: > Hello Ubuntu developers, > > Why are some packages, which are available in allDebian releases, > including Debian Sid, are not included in Ubuntu 18.04? Examples of > packages: phatch (was available in all previous Ubuntu releases), > electrum, bitcoin-qt > -- Ubuntu-quality mailing list [email protected] Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-quality
