Packaging Help

Daniel Holbach daniel.holbach at ubuntu.com
Mon Sep 21 17:49:24 BST 2009


Thanks for your feedback.

Am Montag, den 21.09.2009, 11:43 -0400 schrieb Scott Kitterman:
> I see the sense of the theory, but PPAs are built on Ubuntu, not part of 
> Ubuntu.  Much as development on Ubuntu is offtopic in #ubuntu-devel, I 
> don't think this is something we have the resources to take on.

As I see it people who make use of PPAs and who want to know more about
packaging and how to do it properly express a high interest in Ubuntu. I
could imagine that a lot of people are under the impression that it's
very hard to get something into Ubuntu and I'm sure they just need a
gentle nudge to see that it's not as hard and that once you know the
right places you find all the information you need.


> When I look at http://revu.ubuntuwire.org/ I have no doubt that we have not 
> nearly the developer resources to adequately work with people actively 
> working to get software into Ubuntu.  When I look at 
> http://people.ubuntuwire.org/~wgrant/rebuild-ftbfs-test/test-rebuild-20090909.html 
> it is very clear that we have severe problems with our existing packages 
> that are not being addressed due to lack of developers to do/sponsor the 
> work.  I'm sure I don't need to review the sponship queues for you.

I wasn't suggesting that we bring packages from PPAs into a tip-top
shape for somebody else instead of what we have on our plates already
and not suggesting that we actively search for PPAs that contain good
stuff we'd like to ship.

Instead I'm trying to find a way to help newcomers that need more
information and just a bit of help until they become Ubuntu developers
themselves eventually. It's about finding a way for us to easily give
people what they need and also to set the right expectations. There must
be a middle ground for making this work and a way to reach out to people
who want to make Ubuntu work better.

I see this as a huge potential and the interest in PPAs shows that
people want better and more software in Ubuntu and they want to help out
to make it so.


> Ultimately, PPAs are a Launchpad product, not Ubuntu.  I think they are a 
> very useful tool and am glad to have them, but there is no way we can 
> support helping out everyone who tries to use them.

I personally don't think that the distinction doesn't explain much or
help much. That people are actively trying to do something for Ubuntu in
my eyes is the more important point. That they're not knowing how to "do
it right" or "get it in" is much more the problem we're having and that
we should at least attempt to fix.

Any other ideas?

Have a great day,
 Daniel




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