Re: [gentoo-user] Is Gentoo dead?

[John Covici <covici@ccs.covici.com>]

On Wed, 22 Apr 2020 08:53:24 -0400,
Dale wrote:
> 
> [1  <text/plain; UTF-8 (8bit)>]
> John Covici wrote:
> > On Wed, 22 Apr 2020 04:15:18 -0400,
> > Dale wrote:
> >> [1  <text/plain; UTF-8 (8bit)>]
> >> John Covici wrote:
> >>> I am seeing a lot more unmaintained packages -- at least in the ones I
> >>> have -- than there used to be and bugs going unanswered probably
> >>> because of that.  Not sure what to do about it, I don't have time to
> >>> get into doing this much, just keeping up with world updates is quite
> >>> time consuming all by itself.
> >>>
> >>
> >> That may be but the packages that are most used are likely maintained
> >> and well maintained at that.  There are some old packages that haven't
> >> been updated in years, upstream is dead or no one uses them much anymore
> >> that are slowly being removed.  If one can't install them, no real point
> >> in them being in the tree.  I might add, the switch from the much older
> >> pythons are really forcing a house cleaning.  But, some packages are
> >> just out of date and something new has taken their place.  Nothing new
> >> there.  I'm sure this happens with every distro out there, even the paid
> >> ones.
> >>
> >> I follow -dev and have recently had to uninstall a package and install
> >> something else that is newer and more up to date.  I saw a message about
> >> that old package that seemed to stop working for me a good while ago. 
> >> What I had still lurking about would sometimes crash and I didn't trust
> >> it.  I used to use that as a GUI to manage LVM.  I use LVM a lot here. 
> >> In that message was them removing the old package and recommending a
> >> replacement I never heard of.  I installed it and it may actually be
> >> better than the old software I used to use.  While the old package may
> >> be gone, the new one seems to be more up to date, stable and appears to
> >> have a better design.  Different for sure, I'll have to learn how the
> >> GUI does its thing but could be better in the end. Since LVM has been
> >> updated a good bit in the past year or so, that old software either
> >> needed a lot of work or just use the newer software.
> >>
> >> There are a lot of packages that are just not used by enough people to
> >> maintain them anymore.  Some are being replaced with more up to date
> >> packages.  There are lots of reasons for that.  If a package you use is
> >> being removed, search -dev and look to see if there is a replacement
> >> mentioned in the last rites message.  If it was removed, they almost
> >> always include a replacement if there is one.  Sometimes another package
> >> absorbs what the old package used to do. While at times -dev can get
> >> quite busy, I'd be lost without it.  Things are mentioned there about
> >> upcoming changes that I don't see mentioned anywhere else.  That
> >> includes this list as well.  It's a great way to keep somewhat up to
> >> date on what's going on.  One doesn't have to read every post either. 
> >> After a while, you can tell by the subject line if that thread will be
> >> anything you would be interested in.  Last rites, things about upgrades
> >> and such get my attention.  I generally know when something big is going
> >> to happen weeks or even months before it hits the tree.
> >>
> >> If you want to share what packages you are missing out on, I'd be glad
> >> to search my -dev archives and see if I can find something that may help. 
> > Well, teamviewer is the worst -- teamviewer 15 won't emerge because it
> > will overwrite files belonging to the previous version (!da).  Someone
> > even slotted the thing, but still no joy.  I filed a bug, but no
> > response.  Also, although I don't think there is a new version, but
> > sendmail seens to be unmaintained.
> > Also, ant-core --  there is a bug against that, but no fix as yet.
> >
> 
> 
> I did a search on the forums for teamview but didn't find that problem. 
> Did you perhaps install it without using portage at some point?  If not,
> can you try to emerge it and post the failure here, a new thread might
> be best.  I bet there is someone here who can fix it even if they don't
> use that package.  Generally, a file collision for one package is
> handled much like any other package.  It's been a long time and emerge
> has changed a LOT but the last time I ran into this, I unmerged the
> package and then re-emerged it.
> 
> Sendmail.  I found this:
> 
> 
> root@fireball / # cat
> /var/cache/portage/tree/mail-mta/sendmail/metadata.xml
> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
> <!DOCTYPE pkgmetadata SYSTEM "http://www.gentoo.org/dtd/metadata.dtd">
> <pkgmetadata>
>         <!-- maintainer-needed -->
> </pkgmetadata>
> root@fireball / #
> 
> 
> It seems to be maintainer needed at the moment.  Most likely a dev
> retired or was otherwise unable to maintain it any longer.  I'm not sure
> who to contact to see if it can be nudged into action tho. You may can
> talk to a dev, Rich is active on here, and see if he knows or is willing
> to post on -dev about it needing attention.  Given its widespread use,
> surely someone who uses it can step up and maintain it. 
> 
> Ant-core is maintained by the java team.  I'm not sure what their status
> is at the moment but since it still exists, I'm sure they are active. 
> I've seen posts in the past that the java team is a bit slow, lots of
> work and not enough time in the day.  Might just take a little time.
> 

Here is the relevant section from teamviewer build:
 * checking 102 files for package collisions
  * This package will overwrite one or more files that may belong to
  other
   * packages (see list below). You can use a command such as
   `portageq
    * owners / <filename>` to identify the installed package that owns
    a
     * file. If portageq reports that only one package owns a file
	then do
	 * NOT file a bug report. A bug report is only useful if it
	 identifies at
	  * least two or more packages that are known to install the same
	  file(s).
	   * If a collision occurs and you can not explain where the file
	   came from
	    * then you should simply ignore the collision since there is
	    not enough
	     * information to determine if a real problem exists. Please
		do NOT file
		 * a bug report at https://bugs.gentoo.org/ unless you
		 report exactly
		  * which two packages install the same file(s). See
		   * https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Knowledge_Base:Blockers
		   for tips on how
		    * to solve the problem. And once again, please do NOT
		    file a bug report
		     * unless you have completely understood the above
			message.
			 *
			  * Detected file collision(s):
			   *
			    *   /usr/share/dbus-1/services/com.teamviewer.TeamViewer.service
			     *   /usr/share/dbus-1/services/com.teamviewer.TeamViewer.Desktop.service
				 *   /usr/share/polkit-1/actions/com.teamviewer.TeamViewer.policy
				  *   /usr/share/icons/hicolor/24x24/apps/TeamViewer.png
				   *   /usr/share/icons/hicolor/48x48/apps/TeamViewer.png
				    *
			     *   /usr/share/icons/hicolor/32x32/apps/TeamViewer.png
				 *   /usr/share/icons/hicolor/16x16/apps/TeamViewer.png
				  *   /usr/share/icons/hicolor/256x256/apps/TeamViewer.png
				   *   /lib/systemd/system/teamviewerd.service
				    *   /opt/bin/teamviewer
				     *   /opt/bin/teamviewerd
					 *
					  * Searching all installed packages for file
                             collisions...
					     *
						 * Press Ctrl-C to Stop
						  *
						   * net-misc/teamviewer-14.7.1965:14::gentoo
						    *   /lib/systemd/system/teamviewerd.service
						     *   /opt/bin/teamviewer
							 *   /opt/bin/teamviewerd
							  *   /usr/share/dbus-1/services/com.teamviewer.TeamViewer.Desktop.service
							   *
						    *   /usr/share/dbus-1/services/com.teamviewer.TeamViewer.service
						     *   /usr/share/icons/hicolor/16x16/apps/TeamViewer.png
							 *   /usr/share/icons/hicolor/24x24/apps/TeamViewer.png
							  *   /usr/share/icons/hicolor/256x256/apps/TeamViewer.png
							   *   /usr/share/icons/hicolor/32x32/apps/TeamViewer.png
							    *
						     *   /usr/share/icons/hicolor/48x48/apps/TeamViewer.png
							 *   /usr/share/polkit-1/actions/com.teamviewer.TeamViewer.policy
							  *
							   * Package
                                        'net-misc/teamviewer-15.4.4445'
                                        NOT merged due to file
								 * collisions. If necessary,
                                        refer to your elog messages
                                        for the whole
								 * content of the above
                                        message.

How do ebuilds normally handle such a thing -- don't all new versions
have this situation?

-- 
Your life is like a penny.  You're going to lose it.  The question is:
How do
you spend it?

         John Covici wb2una
         covici@ccs.covici.com