Removed ports - looking from the bench

[Doug Barton]

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


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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