A commit was recently pushed to nestopia, containing the following change:

+prepare() {
+  # remove GLU dependency
+  sed -i "s/fltk-config.*--ldflags/&|sed 's#-lGLU ##g'/g" $pkgname-$pkgver/configure.ac
+}

Attempting to remove the glu dependency this way demonstrates that nestopia did indeeed contain the dependency, as had been reported by multiple individuals.  This change also does not fix anything, but further breaks the package.  This has been noticed not only by me.  Attempting to build the package now produces the following error message:

checking for fltk-config... fltk-config
./configure: line 5715: syntax error near unexpected token `)'
./configure: line 5715: `    FLTK_LIBS="$(fltk-config --use-gl --use-images --ldflags|sed 's#-lGLU ##g')") ;;[]_AS_CASE([linux*], [AC_SUBST(FLTK_LIBS,"-lGL $(fltk-config --use-gl --use-images --ldflags|sed 's#-lGLU ##g')")'

The maintainer has recently claimed that this is "upstream's [nestopia]... bugs".  A search of the nestopia git repo issues shows no report of unnecessary glu-related dependencies from the maintainer or anyone else.  On the contrary, nestopia developers have made multiple statements affirming that nestopia uses opengl.

The maintainer says that I am "likely capable of opening a bug [report]" against the fltk package.  No one, including myself, has done so because no one actually believes this is an fltk issue.  This is clearly a nestopia packaging issue.  The correct place to report it is on the aur package page.  The correct person to fix it is the nestopia maintainer.  When that person refuses to maintain the package, intentionally keeping broken, then intentionally breaking it further, the package should be orphaned.  The current maintainer has had ample opportunity to fix this package the last 2.5 years.  It is long past time to allow someone else to fix it.

The nestopia maintainer has chided me, "Your whole effort is a bit misdirected, I suggest you try to resolve some real problems in your free time."  Since the maintainer evidently believes fixing nestopia is not a good use of time, for anyone, including himself, perhaps he should voluntarily disown it so that someone else may waste their time fixing it.

On Thu, Nov 16, 2023 at 12:59 PM Carsten Teibes <arch@carsten-teibes.de> wrote:

Am 14.11.23 um 03:32 schrieb xiota:

Prior to orphan request PRQ#49707, the package was also flagged.  The maintainer unflagged without taking action.  The maintainer has also written a reply to the orphan request, so is fully aware of the issue.

As said, nestopia does not need GLU, it should not be my responsibility to fix upstream's or other package's bugs.

Despite claims that this is an issue with fltk, maintainer has not opened an issue report for that package.  (None appears in search results at bugs.archlinux.org.)  Also, tools, such as namcap, do not identify reliance of fltk on any glu-related packages.

You are likely capable of opening a bug yourself there, since writing this email does not take much longer...

Even if fltk did have an unnamed dependency on glu, Arch package guidelines state: "Do not rely on transitive dependencies".  So a prudent maintainer, especially given the error reports, would still choose to include glu in the dependency list.

Do you add the `linux` dependency to all your packages, because without the kernel nothing would run?

Given that the current maintainer is willfully keeping this package in a broken state for about 2.5 years, it should be orphaned immediately so that a responsible maintainer may take over.

Your whole effort is a bit misdirected, I suggest you try to resolve some real problems in your free time.

best regards,

carstene1ns