I contacted dons on #arch-haskell about two weeks ago and he said it is not unmaintained. The haskell-platform package on AUR was last updated 31st of July 2009. Currently it's not working. Is this package special, so that it's left alone even when it would have been orphaned if it was any other AUR package? Best regards, Alexander Rødseth

Hi Alexander,

It's been almost a year since haskell-platform was updated (31st of July 2009). Over two months ago, I sent a package disown request. Usually, this is pure routine and is carried through. This time, the reply was that the package is maintained by the Arch Haskell Team using automated scripts.

a couple of days ago, I requested that haskell-hsdns be disowned so that I can take over maintenance, but my request was declined, because, apparently, that package is updated "in an automatic way" (despite the fact that it is quite clearly not). That seems to be a misconception among ArchLinux maintainers. It is true that an utility program exists -- cabal2arch -- that converts Haskell cabal files into ArchLinux PKGBUILD files. That conversion process is automatic. However, the process of detecting new versions, generating an updated tarball for AUR, and uploading that tarball to AUR does *not* happen automatically. A human being has to do all that manually. In fact, there are plenty of out-of-date packages on AUR. To name just a few: haskell-funcmp http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=18122 haskell-hsemail http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=17746 haskell-hsdns http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=17745 The ArchHaskell team has done an awesome job getting virtually all of hackage.haskell.org into AUR, and they deserve a lot of credit for that effort. Yet, the fact of the matter is that these packages are not updated automatically, or even frequently. Just like any other package, Haskell packages can become out-of-date, unmaintained, and obsolete. AUR maintainers ought to realize that when dealing with user requests that concern Haskell packages. Another thing that is frustrating is the fact that the Haskell packages shipped in 'extra' are out-of-date, i.e. they have been generated with an older version of cabal2arch than all other PKGBUILD files on AUR. For example, all Haskell packages on AUR were updated to install the packages' user documentation a while ago. The Haskell packages in extra, however, were not. So I wonder: why do extra/haskell-* packages behave differently than all other Haskell packages on AUR? This doesn't seem like a good idea. I filed a bug report about that, http://bugs.archlinux.org/task/17960, but it has been ignored for the last 4 months. As far as I can tell, Haskell support in ArchLinux has been deteriorating rapidly in the last few months. The current state is such that some people stand up and try do something about it. Unfortunately, we can't, because the AUR maintainers seem to believe that haskell-* packages are sacred somehow and mustn't be touched by anyone except those "automatic updates". Take care, Peter

Hi, Thanks for a well-written post, Peter. 2010/5/27 Ionut Biru :

do you want to became a TU and maintain correctly in community?

They way things are done in AUR, where packages are orhpaned and then maintained by volunteers, is a system that seems to work. The quality of the AUR packages can be so-so, but they don't go unmaintained or broken for long if there are enough people that care. I'm sure there are more than enough people that care about Haskell, as it is an alluring language that carries with it a promise to be theoretically sound. Changing the focus from finding a general solution to what Peter might choose to do does not seem construcive to me. Not handling Haskell-packages in a special non-maintained way would be more constructive. I don't think a one-man-army Arch Haskell Team will improve the situation, no matter how clever that person may be. Best regards, Alexander Rødseth

On Fri, 28 May 2010 16:11:29 +0200 Alexander Rødseth wrote:

Hi,

Thanks for a well-written post, Peter.

2010/5/27 Ionut Biru :

...

do you want to became a TU and maintain correctly in community?

They way things are done in AUR, where packages are orhpaned and then maintained by volunteers, is a system that seems to work. The quality of the AUR packages can be so-so, but they don't go unmaintained or broken for long if there are enough people that care. I'm sure there are more than enough people that care about Haskell, as it is an alluring language that carries with it a promise to be theoretically sound.

Changing the focus from finding a general solution to what Peter might choose to do does not seem construcive to me. Not handling Haskell-packages in a special non-maintained way would be more constructive. I don't think a one-man-army Arch Haskell Team will improve the situation, no matter how clever that person may be.

Best regards, Alexander Rødseth

This should be the place to discuss this: http://www.haskell.org/mailman/listinfo/arch-haskell It doesn't seem to be unmaintained. Cheers.

On 06/01/10 at 06:54pm, Peter Simons wrote:

Hi Ionut,

...

do you want to became a TU and maintain correctly in community?

yes, you are right, that is probably the best approach. What do I have to do to get started?

Take care, Peter Ask someone to sponsor you, make sure the packages you maintain are up to standards and up to date, write an email indicating your intent to apply as a Trusted User (preferably after ensuring both the previous are taken care of), answer any questions the existing Dev/TU community has, and be patient until the vote :P --