New software created for Ubuntu

[Adam Conrad]

On 6/10/2010 12:35 AM, David Paleino wrote:
> On Wed, 9 Jun 2010 14:31:17 -0400, Elliot Murphy wrote:
>
>> I just had a call with various desktopcouch upstream people and we all
>> agreed that the circular dependency was a mistake that we overlooked.
>> [..]
>> We'll be updating the debian bug  report with the plan for solving
this and
>> hopefully will release a new upstream version enabling this in the
next week
>> or so.
>
> And it needed a huge thread to reach this? In the meanwhile I already
changed
> the binary package layout [0] in Debian. Thank you.

No, what was needed was people actually contacting and dealing with the
upstream
authors of the software, I suspect, rather than a public rant and
dissection of process
on a development list whose subscribers (for the most part) have nothing
to do with
the software in question.

I won't deny that both sides of this lively debate have merit, and that
both are also
being needlessly obtuse when backed into corners by arguments of their
respective
merit, or lack thereof.

Yes, maintaining something in Ubuntu should mean paying attention to the
Debian
maintenance, even if it doesn't mean directly participating in it,
because if you help
with a bit of debranding, and help make sure everything's up to snuff on
the Debian
side, you get to magically merge the packing (in 99% of cases), and the
workload for
both groups just got smaller.  Win-win.

This doesn't mean that all Ubuntu contributors need to be Debian
contributors, nor
vice versa.  Not directly.

What needs to not happen, however, is being grumpy about a bug in the BTS or
Launchpad and taking it out on the general devel mailing list of the
other distribution.
If you have a problem with NetworkManager, do you mail random people at
RedHat
until someone listens?  No, I hope you've learned who your upstream is
so you can
communicate with them directly.

Yes, Debian and Ubuntu share common (and often identical) packaging. 
This is no
excuse for not knowing who your upstreams are when you need to, and
learning how
to contact and deal with them effectively.  In both directions.

... Adam

- Intentionally sent from my home domain to avoid Debian or Ubuntu
affiliation in this. :P