May be, this 'void' represents all anybody wanted to know about package maintenance? Irony aside I was curious which kind of packages attract maintainers and which are neglected that way. After being confronted with 404 errors by all links I was wondering what's wrong with my browser (uzbl). So I am very glad you wrote this issue proving me to be not the only one without a working link on that page. Hmm... your post is a whole month old already and I can't see any kind of reaction (admitting it to be really easy to lose one's way here in git.devuan.org) - could be better not to wait for any change to happen very soon.

assigned to @KatolaZ

@KatolaZ @golinux : is this still an issue??

Can we point instead to the d1h stuff?

Yes. The links on those pages are all 404s. Seems like they stub pages that hk created over 2 years ago - part of his master plan - that was never adopted. Debian has similar Maintainer's Manuals. We can either use this template or completely redo it. Obviously, that's not something that I can write . . .

We should point to the d1h documentation, IMHO.

Of course, but doesn't it need more than just that. Maybe an intro? IIRC a lot of basic info is missing from the d1h. Assume that someone may be totally new to packaging . . . And isn't some intervention needed before packages can actually be built? I may be totally wrong but this is what I've picked up from comments I've read.

@RJules3 . . . Since there is no way to message you at talk.d.o, I thought I'd try this. If this post generates an email, please contact me at dyne.org. Would be sad if we couldn't keep in touch.

@golinux Yes, it generated an email which I received on my mobile phone because I am travelling until next week. Now I have my first 'todo' here on git.devuan.org. :-) As soon as there is time I will try to contact you.

@golinux
..a lot of basic info is missing from the d1h. Assume that someone may be totally new to packaging . . . And isn't some intervention needed before packages can actually be built?

Right on! Just got here myself, hungry for allot of basic info, as I'm someone new to packaging, and wanting to offer help.
Well, this is kinda old issue, I'll still be looking for detailed info, I can follow & understand, on the subject.
as always...Thx Dev's!
asta...

stanz . . . the link isn't broken, the site is down. Traceroute ends here:

18  if-ae-11-2.tcore1.ad1-amsterdam.as6453.net (80.231.152.26)  144.823 ms  142.150 ms  156.199 ms
19  80.231.80.6 (80.231.80.6)  146.676 ms 195.219.150.110 (195.219.150.110)  148.349 ms  147.575 ms
20  * * *

Problem is in Amsterdam it seems. I left a message for rrq to have a look if it's on our end or just the network.

good ol` traceroute. Thx golinux.
sorry to shake up the dust, but the topic sounded like what I'm looking for.
Plus, the - Adopt a package section, is hopefully how I can help...when I get it all
figured out!
waiting in the background...asta

I think we should just mention on that page that packagers and maintainers need to be acquainted (read: to have previous experience) at least with:

• standard debian package maintainance
• git

On top of that, we should clarify that maintainers must be willing to continue maintaining the package(s) of their choice for a while (meaning, being able to keep the package updated, at least for one release cycle, possibly more). We don't need one-shot fork contributions: these just leave more work to do for the developers who actually stay around after the first enthusiastic fork has happened....

HTH

I'll see if I can compile some notes that can be formed into a cohesive document. I can start by adding them to a new pad?

@golinux per our discussion, I could try compiling some notes for this. You mentioned I could put the notes on a pad?

btw, @ralph.ronnquist pushed a couple commits that fixed some things yesterday

94078565

fa59b803

The pad for this is at https://pad.dyne.org/code/#/2/code/edit/lgSwinU3qqNrlPErrHAsPmDl/

Now that the links work again, it seems like it would be better to use, review, and update, the existing docs rather than for me to write new documentation.

These are my suggestions:

• Move the wiki docs into the repo

This would allow anyone to perform a merge request for the purpose of helping with the docs, fixing typos, filling in gaps.

In theory, a wiki is easier for everyone to edit. Problem is, they need to be given permissions first. On the other hand, everyone has permissions to fork a repo and do an MR. If the files were in the repo, it increases the chances of willing contributors to help maintain the docs, and merge requests could be reviewed and discussed as they come in, whereas with a wiki, it's not as easy.

• Link to the docs

On this forum post and on the main website.

They need to be visible so they don't get forgotten about, even if they aren't necessarily in pristine condition, atm.

If a package maintainer is following the docs and gets stuck somewhere and asks for help, this gives us a clue as to what part of the docs needs changing, in real-time. An issue can be opened or someone can take care of it immediately.

mentioned in issue #34

@andy5995 . . . the link concerning packaging on the "How you can help Devuan" list at https://dev1galaxy.org/viewtopic.php?pid=1380#p1380 now points to https://git.devuan.org/devuan/devuan-maintainers/blob/master/README.md

That is a good entry page from which users can explore.

I'm confused . . . Wiki docs? When I hear wiki, I think of https://friendsofdevuan.org/doku.php/discuss:start At one time there was discussion of moving it to mediawiki. There could possibly be something useful in there.

the link concerning packaging on the "How you can help Devuan" list at https://dev1galaxy.org/viewtopic.php?pid=1380#p1380 now points to https://git.devuan.org/devuan/devuan-maintainers/blob/master/README.md

Oh, was that already there?

There is another section of that forum post that recently that linked to a dead page. The link was removed but this text is still there. Does it need to be merged with the "Share the Love" section?

Maintain a package - If you would like a package to be included in Devuan, please consider joining the development team by taking charge of packaging and maintaining it.

I'm confused . . . Wiki docs? When I hear wiki, I think of https://friendsofdevuan.org/doku.php/discuss:start At one time there was discussion of moving it to mediawiki. There could possibly be something useful in there.

I'll try to clarify. Note that in the README for this repo, there are several links to some "wikis" pages on the repo. But the wiki pages are not actually inside the repo. So my suggestion was to copy the source of wiki pages to create md files within the repo itself (which would allow for people to open merge requests).

However, @ralph.ronnquist just mentioned on IRC

the wiki is a repository already (it just doesn't tell you :)) 5:41 PM git@git.devuan.org :devuan/devuan-maintainers.wiki.git 5:43 PM afaict, it requires the "markdown" format, though possibly "asciiidoc" would be available if you name the file wisely (not sure).

If the wiki can be forked by people, that would be basically the goal I was suggesting. I'm not sure yet of the details for doing that yet.

The "Share the love section" had been hidden because it pointed to the d1h documentation that I was asked to remove. fsmithred, unhid it without realizing that post had been moved to admin so not viewable by mere mortals. Then I corrected it to point to the maintainers entry page.

Redundancy to entice maintainers can't hurt but the wording is too similar. I probably added that second item when I hid "Share the love";. I'll tweak that later

Yes, it would be good to have the documentation forkable so users could contribute.