On Thu, 1 May 2008 22:43:29 +0200 Nagy Gabor <ngaba@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > So the question: Do/Should Archlinux packagers apply unofficial or > merged-but-not-yet-released patches to fix an existing _bug_ of a > released package? I don't see anything wrong with applying a patch, but it shouldn't just be applied and left to sit there. The patch should be sent upstream as well. > If the answer no, do packagers forward the bug to the official developer > or the end-user should forward his discovered bug? Even if the answer is 'yes' I think the bug and patches should still be forwarded. In an ideal world a packager should follow the package's development upstream and have some communication with it's developers. If there are lingering bugs, the project has become stagnant and there is no one to commit changes and release a new version then I would consider taking the package out of the repo altogether. Move it to unsupported. Another issue here is if the project has some philosophical/technical/other issues with the patch. There's no easy solution here. That's something that has to be considered on a case by case basis. If it's bad enough, someone might decide to fork. :D It's good to make upstream problems known. Users and developers should work to fix the problems from the source rather than only patching things locally. Imagine how many more users from all distros will benefit if things are patched upstream. It's the user's job as well as the developers' to bug upstream once he or she knows the facts.
