[pkg-wpa-devel] Re: wpasupplicant: co-operative maintenance (was Re: recent upload to ubuntu (0.4.8-0ubuntu1))

[Scott James Remnant]

On Tue, 2006-04-11 at 07:11 +1000, Kel Modderman wrote:

> Scott James Remnant wrote:
> > I've said this before, but I don't see why Ubuntu should have to
> > announce its intent to change a package; we're not Debian, we're a
> > different distribution.  
> 
> Ok. Please may point out that I do not wish to discuss 
> inter-distribution politics here in general terms. Specifically, 
> wpasupplicant is meant to be a common Ubuntu/Debian source package.
> 
I don't think such a thing is possible given the way Ubuntu is
developed.  In dapper+1 we intend to drop ifupdown entirely; how will
that work in a common source package where Debian still use it? etc.

We already have significantly different packages of most of the core
pieces that wpasupplicant touches.

> > You never announced your intent to change the
> > maintainer scripts either, I don't see why something should apply to
> > Ubuntu and not to Debian.
> >   
> 
> How did I change something that was never in the working archive . . . I 
> don't want an argument.
> 
> It would have been really nice to have some sort of communication to the 
> other developers of this package about your changes, because of their 
> importance and extreme value (for which I am absolutely thankful). 
> C'mon, a small email is not too much to ask, it would have saved you 
> time in the long run.
> 
The problem is that we don't have maintainers in Ubuntu; thus we'd need
some kind of central repository of how each and every Debian maintainer
would like to be notified of changes to their package.

It suddenly becomes *hard work* for an Ubuntu developer to find out
whether and how the appropriate Debian maintainer wants to be told about
a change to a package they just made.

I don't "own" the wpasupplicant package in Ubuntu; I don't know whether
I'll ever make an upload of it again -- someone else probably will
though.


I just don't think such a situation is tenable.  Debian needs to accept
that Ubuntu is a separate distribution with its roots in Debian, not
just a repackaging of Debian.  Ubuntu will make changes as it sees fit;
and some of those changes may not be suitable for Debian.

We provide the current "Ubuntu patch" at any given point so Debian
developers can decide for themselves.

We just can't afford the time to ask permission for and debate changes
we make; if they're not appropriate for Debian, there's no real point
trying to get Ubuntu to revert them because we made them for a reason.


Obviously you'll get a different response from any other Ubuntu
developer; some of them believe in maintaining compatibility with
Debian, I personally think it's time for Ubuntu to "leave the nest" and
become its own.

Scott
-- 
Scott James Remnant
scott at ubuntu.com
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