Getting stuff backported is too hard

[Jonathan Carter (highvoltage)]

Hi Iain

On 31/07/2010 17:30, Iain Lane wrote:
> This whole train of thought was set off by the amount of upstream
> backport PPAs that I'm seeing springing up. This points to a place
> where our distribution model isn't meeting the needs of upstream
> developers. I would like to think that -backports is a nice home for
> these things instead, but currently I wouldn't advocate it to an
> upstream as the process is just too clunky. Let's fix this. (I am
> aware that the proper fix also blocks on selective backports, but
> let's do what we can now)

In my opinion, encouraging official backport PPAs may have some benefits
in addition to using the -backports repository. Quite often when people
use backports, they are interested in one or two new packages available
in there, in such cases an official upstream backport PPA may be more
appropriate, where -backports would probably be better for things that
applies directly to a very large group of people.

Having a more streamlined backports procedure would be great. How about
also making it easier for people to find official backport PPAs and
formalising it a bit more in Launchpad by making it easier to find by
adding some kind of directory?

-Jonathan