Continuing along with my contributing experience…
I’ve been on the motu-mentor’s mailing list for some time now, and very little actually seems to get done on it. There has been a few introduction’s by new contributors, but from my understanding it is supposed to be a place where non-motu contributors (motu hopefuls we will call them) are supposed to ask for help from the motu. But since I have been on the list (looks like August 3rd), there have only been 20 or so e-mail threads. About 5 of these threads have been from some misguided soul who thinks it is a help forum, and a couple of others have gone completely un-answered. Here’s one:
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Hi there,
I’d like to fix the filed bug on btpd package:
https://bugs.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/btpd/+bug/275326
This is not trivial however, as btpd is a daemon and btcli is a command
line client for it. To debianize it properly, I’ve made btpd a system
daemon with its own /etc/init.d/btpd script rather than a user-launched
one, in much the same way as fetchmail works in Ubuntu.
I wonder: what should I do?
1. Should I patch the code to remove the kill command from btcli?
2. Should I simply tell the user in the Readme to start/stop the daemon
in a more ubuntu-like manner?
3. I won’t revert for sure to the user daemon/client upstream pair as
this would make btpd not debian-like IMO
Any help appreciated, thanks in advance!
Cesare (Falco).
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Now, this email may have been answered privately, but it wasn’t answered on the list, and it’s these sort of non-trivial question and answers that can lead to some serious learning for those of us uninitiated. I mean, downloading the Hello package from gnu with Daniel Holbach is great and all as far as learning the process is concerned, but working through serious fixes and issues with others (even if they don’t know you’re following along) is how we are going to quickly get up to speed.
BTW, thanks for the comments on the last post, its great to know people read these (I have all planet ubuntu posts go to my liferea read reader).
Your concern is well placed. Unfortunately, there is a fair amount of Debian package maintenance know-how required before answers to Cesare’s questions can even be suggested. And, as with most package maintenance, there really are two objectives: firstly, to coordinate changes with the Debian maintainer(s), and secondly, to remember that the first objective is always subject to one’s whims. Or, “there’s more than one way to do it” [provided you’re willing to bear the maintenance cost if you diverge from upstream].