Date: Sun, 10 Mar 2024 22:49:35 +0100 From: Daniel Engberg <daniel.engberg.lists@pyret.net> To: Eugene Grosbein <eugen@grosbein.net> Cc: Florian Smeets <flo@FreeBSD.org>, ports@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Proposed ports deprecation and removal policy Message-ID: <c5e3e5d2d058d90777828b88a0f1506e@mail.infomaniak.com> In-Reply-To: <1c5b7818-842f-f7b8-9d4e-5bf681cad20e@grosbein.net> References: <435edf7c-a956-4317-b327-3372de70dbef@FreeBSD.org> <1c5b7818-842f-f7b8-9d4e-5bf681cad20e@grosbein.net>
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On 2024-03-10T21:45:16.000+01:00, Eugene Grosbein <eugen@grosbein.net> wrot= e: > 29.02.2024 2:22, Florian Smeets wrote: >=20 >=20 > > This policy should give some guidance on when ports can or should be= removed. In general ports should not be removed without reason but if a po= rt blocks progress it should be deprecated and subsequently removed. In gen= eral, if a ports blocks progress for some time it will be removed so that p= rogress can be made. For more details see below. > > =20 > > =20 > > Ports can be removed immediately if one of the following conditions is= met: > > =20 > > - Upstream distfile is no longer available from the original source/mi= rror > > (Our and other distcaches e.g. Debian, Gentoo, etc do not count as "av= ailable") > > - Upstream WWW is unavailable: deprecate, remove after 3 months > =20 > [skip] >=20 >=20 > > A port can be deprecated and subsequently removed if: > > =20 > > - Upstream declared the version EOL or officially stopped development. > > DEPRECATED should be set as soon as the planned removal date is know. > =20 > Objection to quoted reasons. A software not developed anymore but still w= orks fine > after years is best software ever. Do not touch it, please. >=20 > Some examples: >=20 > mail/qpopper=09=09=09abadoned by Qualcomm years ago > russian/d1489=09=09=09created by ache@ who passed away years ago > net/quagga=09=09=09abadonware but still best OSPF implementation for Free= BSD kernel > net-im/pidgin-manualsize=09abadoned by initial author years ago > databases/oracle8-client=09the only known library to link native FreeBSD = code with for OracleDB connection >=20 > Do not "fix" what ain't broken. >=20 Eugene I'm going to assume that there will be a PR or something regarding maintain= ed ports either way.=20 In general not directed to the mentioned ports specifically but using a few= as examples,=20 As far as the "Do not "fix" what ain't broken" argument goes one major conc= ern is how do you know especially regarding to Internet facing services? Qp= opper (for example) has been dropped by pretty much every distro https://re= pology.org/project/qpopper/versions and upstream is dead so there's no hub = for communication. There likely aren't many eyes on the software by now (I = guess for both good and bad reasons) but it might also very well bite you o= r users in the end. That being said, all software contains bugs including a= ctive projects so it's not like it's a clean cut in terms of security conce= rns (wordpress) but you'll likely see issues being adressed and reported wh= en software is more widely available. If upstream is dead it's very likely = that security reports ends up in some package repo, random hosted fork or s= uch and never finds it way outside of it. Quagga is in a similar position, pfsense seems to point users to frr and th= ere's also other software such as bird/bird2 . According to https://www.orafaq.com/wiki/Oracle_8 Oracle 8 support ended 20= years ago, it's also marked as i386 only so its days are counted. Nothing is stopping people to use an overlay but not everything needs to be= in or rather stay the "public" repo forever. Best regards, Daniel
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