Question about Port maintainership

[Matt Crossley]

Hi all,

A couple of questions regarding port maintainership, etc.


There is a port that I recently needed to install that I haven't used in
quite some time (sysutils/autopsy). The port is quite outdated, and
hasn't been updated since March, 2004. The version is at 1.73, whereas
the actual application itself is up to Version 2.06, released in
October, 2005.

I've sent the current maintainer an email asking if either he'd update
the port, or if I could take over maintainership and do regular updates
on the port. That was about 3 weeks ago, and I have heard no response
from him. What should be my next step? Should I make a patch to update
the Makefile and submit a PR? Or submit a change maintainer PR? I don't
want ot step on anyone's toes, but it's been over a year since an update
by the maintainer, and I'd like to pick up the slack.

My next question has to do with an application that I think would be
useful, but is not in the ports tree. It is a commercial, proprietary
product that is free for download, without having to click and agreement
or accept a EULA. I'd like to add this port, and I've contacted the
company in question (over 1 week ago), but they have not responded yet.
So I'm wondering what the policy is regarding adding ports where the
developer or company has not explicitly approved this addition to the
ports system. In many respects, it would be beneficial for them to have
more exposure, but maybe they wouldn't appreciate it for some reason?
Any guidelines there?

I've started to go through the Porter's Handbook, and I'm looking
forward to being able to make contributions, as minor as they are, to
the growth of FreeBSD. :-)


Any insight would be much appreciated!

Thanks,
Matt