Removed ports - looking from the bench

[Chris Rees]

On 10 September 2011 09:40, Doug Barton <dougb at freebsd.org> wrote:
> The way that the FreeBSD project handles deleted ports is to leave them
> in the CVS repository, where they are easily available to everyone who
> would like to access them.
>
> However I think that your idea is interesting, and I'd love to see the
> people who are deeply concerned about deleted ports pursue it as an
> independent project. If they do, I will personally put a reference to it
> in the Handbook. :)
>
>
> Doug

I also don't think this is a terrible idea, but perhaps we could just
put a little section about Resurrecting dead ports with a quick cvs
tutorial into the Porter's Handbook?

Chris

> On 09/10/2011 01:08, Carsten Jensen wrote:
>> I've seen many requests of late, for ports that are no longer in
>> active development, abandoned etc but still working, but they've been
>> removed from ports.
>>
>> here's an idea, I don't know if this has been discussed before. It
>> requires work of course. But doesn't require a person to know how to
>> develop, which is the biggest issue for people who use ports but
>> don't know how to make a fix to keep it active.
>>
>> When a port is removed, it'll be compressed and put as a single
>> download file. this way the patch information isn't lost and it'll be
>> easier for someone to build said package. Of course there'll be
>> complications, this is where a disclaimer comes in (no support, you
>> are on your own).
>>
>> As I see it, the work required, after the initial setup, is when a
>> port is marked for deletion is to pack it, upload it, and add a
>> comment as last known working (FBSD) version. It sounds easier than
>> probable will be
>>
>> The package could then be deleted when it survives 2 major FBSD
>> versions.
>>
>> I know this will be 2 databases need maintaining, but look at the
>> good aspects.
>> * Ports will be cleaned of old/(almost) unused stuff
>> * People will still have a chance to use an old application
>>
>> I could be wrong but I don't think that it requires a lot to
>> maintain, just a few hours a month.
>>
>> Some major things to discuss about this is: Hosting: will freebsd.org
>> / mirrors lend space/bandwidth to this ? Initial setup: package
>> should be download-able using fetch, perhaps a nice web interface
>> with descriptions of the package.
>>
>>
>> By definition of package I mean the files in ports excluding the
>> source code compressed, so you basically could extract said package
>> into ports and use it as it never was removed.
>>
>> If there's enough backup for this project, I wouldn't mind taking on
>> the job, but for it to get most the success it'll need help from the
>> port committers.
>>
>>
>> Cheers Carsten
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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