[Slackbuilds-users] Fwd: gnome-desktop SlackBuild source is 404'd

[Jeremy Hansen]

On Wed, Feb 12, 2025, 3:40 PM Bob Funk <bobfunk11 at gmail.com> wrote:

> B. Watson brought up this in that last email, which I have a question
> about:
>
> There is also another factor: there are two alternating "cycles"
>> at SBo. Normally we're in "release cycle", which is the usual
>> state. When a new Slackware release is made (or maybe a bit before,
>> when a release candidate or beta is released), we close the submission
>> form and go into "development cycle". It takes a lot of man-hours of
>> work to update all the builds from e.g. 14.2 to work correctly with
>> 15.0. For a given build, sometimes that just means a small change
>> in the script, or adding a patch. Sometimes the cleanest way is to
>> version-update the build instead of trying to patch the previous
>> version.
>>
>> During the dev cycle, there's a lot of frantic scrambling by the SBo
>> admins to get all the work done in a reasonable amount of time.  As a
>> consequence, we don't send mail to maintainers about proposed changes
>> and wait for responses. If something needs fixing, one of us fixes it.
>>
>> This isn't documented anywhere because it's not something that was
>> planned out ahead of time. It's how our practices have evolved over
>> the years. Probably there *should* be a FAQ on the site that explains
>> all this.
>>
>
> Will I be able to perform pull requests and update packages during this
> transition period in the next release?
>
> I started maintaining slackbuilds shortly after Slackware 15.0 was
> released. I wasn't around as a maintainer for the transitional period of
> prior releases.
>
> Now I have a large number of gnome packages that I maintain. Many of these
> packages are fixed at 41.x release versions. This is because their
> underlying libraries provided in the Slackware 15.0 base install limits me
> to this version. Upgrading the full set would require upgrading 14 packages
> in the Slackware base system (last time I checked). There are also other
> maintainers on slackbuilds.org who maintain packages in the gnome suite
> of software, which are also stuck to versions for similar reasons. Some of
> my packages depend on those other maintainers' ones too.
>
> All these problems go away on Slackware-current, where everything is up to
> date. At the next release, I will have upgrades for up to 60-70 packages,
> all hinging on newer Slackware base packages in the next release. I can
> provide updated builds, and help coordinate upgrades with the maintainers I
> depend on.
>
> This is why I wonder if/when I can get to upgrading these packages in a
> transitional period. Your email sounds like admins are doing this task. Or
> is that just fixing what doesn't build and then maintainers make their
> changes after your closed "development cycle"?
>

Things get a little looser during the transition period. They start by
merging Matteo's (ponce) -current repo and then start testing the repo by
building and testing. Programs that are broken will attempt to be fixed,
sometimes by admins, sometimes by maintainers, sometimes by non-maintainers
(although, it's preferable to have the blessing of the maintainer to push
that fix). If they can't be fixed before the transition period ends,
they'll be removed before the admins publish the repo for the new stable
(taking it out of transition mode).

Maintainers can still push version updates during this time, but they'll be
expected to be tested against -current, the RC, or 15.1 stable release (or
whatever new version number it is). I also have a number of packages
waiting for newer stock packages that will be updated during this
transition. As an FYI, t is frowned on to update packages that aren't yours
just to update them. However, if it's broken without updating, try and get
the permission of the maintainer (because they might be working on it)
before you push an update to a package you don't maintain.

Keep in mind that once this transition period starts, the 15.0 repo will be
frozen and no further updates will be made, even before 15.1 is released.

The transition period can be made easier by testing scripts against
-current and fixing what you can for 15.0 SBo, but if there are conflicts
that don't work with 15.0, ping Matteo to have him put the change in his
-current repo. This is not required of maintainers, but can help expedite
the transition to the new release.

Jeremy

>
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