[aur-general] AUR4, git, subtrees ELI5?

[Lukas Fleischer]

On Fri, 12 Jun 2015 at 12:42:30, David Kaylor wrote:
> On Fri, Jun 12, 2015 at 5:34 AM, Lukas Fleischer <lfleischer at archlinux.org>
> wrote:
> [...]
> > It is expected (and intended) that some (hopefully not too many) AUR
> > package maintainers back out due to the new system. It is also intended
> > that a huge number of packages is not imported into the new AUR and
> > anything that automatically transfers packages is undesirable. We only
> > want users to resubmit their stuff if they want to take care of it in
> > the future. Think of it as a huge AUR cleanup.
> >
> 
> And finally, you state your position; cull the herd. Again, I don't
> disagree, but it's usually best to state intentions from the very
> beginning. So make sure that statement is at the very head of the wiki
> related to the transition to AUR4. "Basic working knowledge of Git is
> expected of all AUR package maintainers. Otherwise, sod off."

"Culling the herd" (using your words, even though I dislike that
metaphor) is something that always happens when you introduce a new
system. Users need time to get used to it, some of them back out. Just
to clarify: We don't want to make the AUR a place for elitists and we
are trying to make it as convenient as possible for users to continue
contributing. On the other hand, though, we also want to use the chance
of having to reimport all packages to improve the overall quality of the
AUR (less broken and unmaintained packages, less clutter). We also need
to keep an eye on maintainability: I am the only regular aurweb
contributor these days.

Regarding your request to state intentions from the very beginning, the
first sentence in the AUR 4 section of the Arch wiki is:

    Since release 4.0.0, aurweb uses Git repositories for AUR packages
    which means that the package submission process is a bit different.

In my opinion, that makes it pretty obvious that maintainers need to
know or learn Git. If you disagree, feel free to improve that section,
it is a wiki!

Regards,
Lukas