From owner-freebsd-ports@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Dec 12 00:59:11 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-ports@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D072916A4CE for ; Sun, 12 Dec 2004 00:59:11 +0000 (GMT) Received: from bloodwood.hunterlink.net.au (smtp-local.hunterlink.net.au [203.12.144.17]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8E27C43D2F for ; Sun, 12 Dec 2004 00:59:10 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from boris@brooknet.com.au) Received: from [61.8.39.159] (ppp279F.dyn.pacific.net.au [61.8.39.159]) iBC0oY7H009340; Sun, 12 Dec 2004 11:50:36 +1100 Message-ID: <41BB97E8.6010702@brooknet.com.au> Date: Sun, 12 Dec 2004 11:59:20 +1100 From: Sam Lawrance User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird 0.9 (X11/20041115) X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Kris Kennaway References: <20041212000009.GB86390@xor.obsecurity.org> In-Reply-To: <20041212000009.GB86390@xor.obsecurity.org> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit cc: ports@freebsd.org Subject: Re: "Being a port maintainer" document X-BeenThere: freebsd-ports@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Porting software to FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 12 Dec 2004 00:59:11 -0000 Kris Kennaway wrote: >At the moment, too many of our ports have no maintainer. This means >that there's no-one available to fix problems that occur with the >ports or to deal with user support questions. In some cases this is >probably because no-one actually uses the software in question any >more, but in other cases it's probably just because no-one in the user >community has come forward to take over. > >I'd like to put out a general call for people to volunteer to maintain >our unmaintained ports -- this is a great way for users to "give >something back" to FreeBSD and help out the project -- but we need >some form of document we can show them that lists the rights and >responsibilities of port maintainers, so they have an idea of what's >expected from them. The porters' handbook does a good job of >describing the details of constructing a port, but not the >higher-level aspects of being a port maintainer. > >e.g. > >* Updating the port when a new version is released > >* Pushing local changes back upstream to the original authors > >* Fixing port errors reported by the package build cluster > >* Dealing with user support requests, at least by pointing them to the >upstream developers for cases where it's not clearly a FreeBSD >port-specific problem. > >* Evaluating PRs submitted against the port > >* Responding to change requests in a timely manner (2 weeks). > >* ... > >Can someone write up such a document? > > I volunteer to have a go at writing this. Maybe I'll gather some extra inspiration while dealing with my broken ports and feedback PRs :) -- Sam Lawrance ph +61 0425 228 579 freenode: deft