[SUSPECTED SPAM] Re: Install package for Ubuntu

Stephen Eilert spedrosa at gmail.com
Mon May 14 17:55:58 EDT 2007


On 5/14/07, João Pinto <lamego.pinto at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello Ethan,
> argument on point 1 was that because distribution releases do not match
> application releases, they clearly fail to meet user's expectations, I am
> sure you will agree that building from source is not a reasonable process
> for a regular desktop user.
> I do understand your concerns. l will first validate with the official
> package maintainers that the getdeb package will not be a problem on future
> distribution upgrades, then I will email this list again, hopefully someone
> will evaluate if it should be provided to Ubuntu users as an Official
> download.
> I am providing regular updates, always using upstream sources and when
> possible based on the official distribution package building rules.

Why is that even a problem? Future releases will include Pidgin. The
older releases can have it backported.

In fact, I fail to see why packages for other distributions (such as
Fedora) are even available in the download page. Even if their
maintainer happens to be one of Pidgin's developers (I have not
checked) this shouldn't change the standard distribution channel. I
think the only available binary should be for win32 (as it lacks any
package management mechanism and there is only one "distribution" to
worry about).

Edgy shows this for Gaim:

Maintainer: Ubuntu Core Developers <ubuntu-devel at lists.ubuntu.com>
Original-Maintainer: Robert McQueen <robot101 at debian.org>

Gaim is part of the official Ubuntu-desktop package, so it follows
that Pidgin will be, too(after all, it was just a name change).
Therefore, from my point of view, ubuntu-devel should be contacted
first. Failing that, try to include it in multiverse or universe. If
that does not work, then it should be made available as an external
repository, with a public-key for authentication, provided by a
trusted source.

I understand some people want the package *right now* and I can't
really blame them. But all distributions have their own ways to deal
with that sort of problem.


[DISCLAIMER: I'm not a Pidgin developer, but a libpurple user, so my
views do not, in any way, shape or form, reflect those of the Pidgin
Developers]

--Stephen


programmer, n:
        A red eyed, mumbling mammal capable of conversing with
inanimate monsters.


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