Re: LibreOffice packages
On Fri, Jun 2, 2023 at 2:28 PM Stephen Smoogen <ssmoogen(a)redhat.com> wrote:
On Fri, 2 Jun 2023 at 07:20, Matthias Clasen <mclasen(a)redhat.com> wrote:
>
> Lets not make this a drama.
>
> Package maintenance changes have never gone through change proposals.
>
I am sorry, but this was made into a drama by the way this was executed. Surprise is the
opposite of engagement and dropping a ton of packages and their dependencies and then
announcing it is absolute surprise.
This isn't just package maintenance. This is a major change in what is expected to be
included in the next workstation editions with the removal of expected functionality. If
the packages are not picked up within a certain amount of time or can be rebuilt it means
many packages will need to be edited. Those changes need to be researched, announced, and
pushed through.
It is also drama because people in the community have no idea what else will take place?
When uncertainty and doubt are allowed into the conversation, people jump to the extremes
so they can feel ready to deal with it.
Could we try something different for future changes?
1. Announce that Red Hat will be moving from owning said packages and dependencies on X
date.
2. Let people grieve about things for a short while but make it clear its happening. See
if community members or other companies will take up the burden
3. Do the orphan or hand over of packages to the new group.
Instead of 3,1,2?
That may not always be possible, sometimes it involves departure or
changes of roles for people and those can be delicate and are not
always notifiable. I'm not sure that is the case here but I do know,
from a blog post [1], that the previous maintainer is no longer at Red
Hat.
Peter
[1] https://meeksfamily.uk/~michael/blog/2023-05-15-caolan.html