Re: Debian Packaging [was: Re: SimpleAgenda 0.48]

I agree.  It is better than to have Debian packaging than not to have it.  =
I would not want to be disrespectful of those who like it in that form, or =
for anyone who took the time to make it happen.  I appreciate that it is th=
ere.

It's not my cup of tea so I was merely pointing out other options for those=
 who do not want to be stuck with distros.  That said I've seen GitHub do p=
ackaging hosting, I've made it do ISO hosting, sourceforge can do that, lot=
s of options.


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On Tuesday, May 12th, 2026 at 5:48 PM, Paul Seelig <[email protected]> wr=
ote:

> On 5/12/26 09:59, Joseph Maloney wrote:
> > For me the layout Debian uses is a total no-op.  But I know this is a c=
ommon thing beyond Debian and where they are set in their ways so am I.  I =
have considered external packaging.
> Depending from which angle one is looking at it, the layout used in
> Debian for the GNUstep installations is either a mess or a blessing.
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> It is probably a complete mess as seen from a pure GNUstep angle, and
> this is probably a fair assessment from this perspective.
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> But then again, when seen from the perspective of the system designed by
> and for Debian it is a blessing to have GNUstep included alongside other
> desktop options because it gives an umatched visibility to GNUstep for
> interested Debian users who don't need to compile it on their own to be
> able to have a look. This is an absolutely good thing as it shows that
> GNUstep is alive and growing. And this is the main reason why it is
> included in the wmlive distribution despite the shortcomings of the
> packages distributed by Debian.
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> Nonetheless, in context of wmlive, i was doubting if it wouldn't
> actually be doing a disservice to GNUstep by including the Debian
> package variants.
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> The GNUstep packages as currently distributed by Debian are not
> supporting libobjc2 nor ARC, and quite a few users/developers have
> already complained about this lack with wmlive because their software
> requires these features. Unfortunately, i am not in the position to
> recompile all the Debian GNUstep components with these features on my
> own as i lack the specific expertise and understanding required to do
> the same.
> I am not a programmer and my possibilities for contributions are limited
> to sysadmin level activities such as building and providing the
> live-build based wmlive ISO images, mostly recombining what is already
> readily available.
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> In fact, i personally think that Debian is unintentionally rather doing
> a disservice to GNUstep by not already providing libobjc2 based GNUstep
> packages instead of the current offerings. This is something that should
> have been done already since years.
> But just like for the GNUstep project itself, the amount of sufficiently
> capable package maintainers is limited, and the few who are taking the
> burden of the work can't be expected to autoexploit themselves much more
> than they already do. Just as everybody else, these people only have 24
> hours a day at their disposal, and need to juggle their Debian
> activities with the real life of any adult, like earning money, care for
> their family, and so on.
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> Said that, there appear to be initiatives underway in Debian to take
> care of the libobjc2/ARC hurdle, but it is currently unclear what the
> actual status of concrete activities is. For this, please refer to
> https://alioth-lists.debian.net/pipermail/pkg-gnustep-maintainers/2025-Ja=
nuary/006241.html
> from January 2025, which offers a glimmer of hope, albeit without any
> visible results so far. I guess a helping hand would be very well receive=
d.
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> For my own project https://wmlive.sourceforge.net the inclusion of
> GNUstep components is optional and, as used to be the case in prior
> years, the absence of them wouldn't make any real difference for its
> usefulness. While it does include a wide range of GNUstep components it
> doesn't aim at being a GNUstep centric distribution.
> The main idiosyncratic objective of wmlive is to provide a mostly
> complete Debian system aimed at competent system administrators
> requiring a convenient tool box of utilities, and to have the Window
> Maker X11 window manager as its primary GUI. It is not aimed at newbie
> Linux users who would be much better served with any other of the more
> popular Linux distributions. And it doesn't care about Wayland either.
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> Hopefully, it should be clear that the availablilty of GNUstep packages
> within the Debian context is very valuable for offering a show case for
> GNUstep. The way it currently is, and as unsatisfying as it might appear
> when seen from other vantage points, it does provide visibility for
> GNUstep. And that certainly is a very good thing.
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> Thanks to all for your wonderful work!
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> Regards,
> P.Seelig
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> https://fosstodon.org/@wmlive | https://wmlive.sourceforge.net
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>