Re: trixie-backports request: libpdf-reuse-perl 0.43-1 and libpdf-reuse-barcode-perl 0.09-1

Hey Gregor,

Short answer: I've been out of the loop with the Koha Community since about=
 2012.
This is mainly an attempt to get Koha up to date on Perl modules I manage=
=20
and have fallen behind in. Most of the fixes in the modules are not Koha=20
related. So, I'm fine with handing you deb packages to upload. That may be=
=20
the way to go for now based on your disclosure of the history of interactio=
n=20
with the Koha dev community.

Longer answers interleaved below.

On Monday, July 20th, 2026 at 6:47 PM, gregor herrmann <[email protected]> =
wrote:

> On Sat, 18 Jul 2026 15:43:07 +0000, Chris Nighswonger wrote:
>=20
> >Hello pkg-perl team,
>=20
> Hi Chris!
>=20
> >I'm the upstream (CPAN) maintainer of PDF::Reuse and=20
> >PDF::Reuse::Barcode, and I'd like to ask whether someone on the team=20
> >would be willing to upload both packages to trixie-backports:
> >- libpdf-reuse-perl 0.43-1 (trixie has 0.39-4)
> >- libpdf-reuse-barcode-perl 0.09-1 (trixie has 0.07-2)
>=20
> Thanks for your mail and for the clear description of the situation,=20
> much appreciated.
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> >I'm also happy to help with this more directly =E2=80=94 I have (or will=
 set=20
> >up) a Salsa account and would gladly join the team and learn the=20
> >backports workflow for these packages myself if that's preferable to=20
> >asking for team time. Guidance welcome on which route you'd rather=20
> >see.
>=20
> Well =E2=80=A6 let me think how to phrase this =E2=80=A6 Alright: It woul=
d be quite=20
> easy to just make those probably trivial backports; on the other=20
> hand, if this is a chance to get a new contributor, that sounds also=20
> very attractive :)
>=20
> More seriously: If you think you can contribute to Debian that would=20
> be very welcome, and you'll get all onboarding help you need.
> If that's too much for you currently, feel free to say so and I'll=20
> just upload the packages to backports.
>=20
>=20

I have a small history of OSS contribution (~25k lines of my own code to=20
Koha and ~100k lines total churn) and do enjoy OSS work. I'd need to=20
understand more about what the expectations are for a contributor to the=20
Debian Perl team in order to be able to give an honest reply concerning=20
my commitment level. And TBH, I suspect that the userbase of the Perl=20
packages I'm maintaining is pretty small, and I've moved to working mostly=
=20
with Python and JS these days.

> And if I may add a more general question/thought: koha is still=20
> not in Debian. What I see is that every couple of years someone from=20
> the koha community and/or some catalyst employee pops up and packages=20
> a ton of Perl modules and then vanishes again =E2=80=A6
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> Could we maybe add all koha dependencies and finally koha itself to=20
> Debian? The reason I'm asking is that I'm a bit surprised (and also=20
> tired) of these coming and going waves of paid and/or enthusiastic=20
> people packaging dependencies (which aren't needed by anything else)=20
> but also because I think koha is an excellent piece of software and=20
> just being able to `apt install koha' would go a long way for=20
> enabling libraries all around the world to run free software.
>=20
>=20

I've been out of touch with the Koha community since ~2012. So I am not=20
in any position to substantially comment on this history or situation. I=20
do recall some conversations regarding possibly packaging Koha back in the=
=20
day, but honestly do not remember what the pros/cons were. It seems apparen=
t=20
that the cons outweighed the pros given that there is still not an official=
=20
package. I would be very hesitant to say much beyond that since at this=20
point in time, I really have no roll in the governance of that project.=20
(I did serve as Release Manager/Maintainer for 3.2.x, 3.4.x, and 3.6.x but=
=20
again, that was 14+ years ago.)

I appreciate your candidness and transparency and am open to any feedback.=
=20
Otherwise, just let me know what I need to get to you to get these packages=
=20
into backports, and I'll get on that.

Kind regards,
Chris

> Cheers,
> gregor
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