[Xastir] Installing Xastir 1.9.9 on Ubuntu/Debian

[David Aitcheson]

Scott,

GO FOR IT!  I nominate Scott Evans VK7HSE for consideration as the
Ubuntu and Debian maintainer of the Xastir package.

Personally, I am going back to University three weeks from today
(classes start) so I am off the radar for the next 4 months or so;
then available only from mid December 2010 until late January 2011
when I drop off the radar again until late May 2011.  Yes at 52 I am
still a college student.

Also I am including an email exchange that I had with Steve Conklin at
Canonical and Jerry Stueve, that CC'd Kamal Mostafa, and B'dale Garbee
who are in the Ubuntu Hams group.

Kamal has a (NOW OUTDATED) ".deb" file on his launchpad PPA instance
that some are using.  (KAMAL HINT HINT  it needs to be updated
already!)  Check the Xastir Wiki and the Xastir email reflector
archive for late breaking tips.

It would be good to get the 2010_August_01 build out to as many as
possible as that should solve a lot of the lingering problems.

73 & Good Luck All
Dave - KB3EFS
-- 
David A Aitcheson
david.aitcheson at gmail.com
david.aitcheson on google and skype

Open PGP Key ID: 0x897A0CC0
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On Mon, Aug 2, 2010 at 4:36 PM, Scott Evans <scott at vk7hse.hobby-site.org> wrote:
> I'm now running Debian sid and the ubuntu howto works just fine, the
> only thing I do is to compile the gdal (1.7.2), libgeotiff (1.3.0) and
> proj (4.7.0) from source, then no extra config flags are required.
> Although I haven't attempted to do this on Debian lenny there may be
> some package versions that have different numbers in them, but its not
> to hard to figure that out if needed.
>
> It also appears that the Amateur Radio group for maintaining Debian
> packages seems to be a little on the quiet side! if there are any on
> this list, I'm interested in helping where I can, as I've recently
> become the maintainer for another project.
>
> --
> Scott Evans <scott at vk7hse.hobby-site.org>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Xastir mailing list
> Xastir at lists.xastir.org
> http://lists.xastir.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/xastir
>

Subject: Re: Xastir and Ubuntu
From: Jerry Stueve <K4INT at ARRL.Net>
Date: Wed, 14 Jul 2010 02:40:07 -0400
To: Steve Conklin <sconklin at canonical.com>
CC: David Aitcheson <david.aitcheson at gmail.com>, Kamal Mostafa
<kamal at whence.com>, bdale <bdale at gag.com>
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On Tue, 2010-07-13 at 15:58 -0500, Steve Conklin wrote:
On Tue, 2010-07-13 at 12:43 -0400, David Aitcheson wrote:
Steve,
Hi, de Dave KB3EFS.
I am trying to get Xastir set up in a PPA of its own or added to the
Launchpad Xastir portal.
I think that is the best way to move forward and get things more
current on a more recurrent basis.
What do you think?
I am not aware of how to "sign" a gmail email so I am including my
Re: Xastir and Ubuntu mailbox:///home/aitch100s76/.thunderbird/7s7rt3t0.de...
1 of 3 08/02/2010 06:04 PM
public key below.
My key id is 0x897A0CC0
My fingerprint is 6E6B 8F72 56EF 32FD 6C64 5F65 37D9 01FC 897A 0CC0
73
Dave
KB3EFS
Don't sweat signing the emails. If you want to do that there are plugins
for evolution, thunderbird, and other clients.
While setting up a PPA with a daily build isn't hard technically (we do
that for upstream kernels in Ubuntu), it brings up some process issues
that need to be discussed as part of all this. This may be long, so I
apologize in advance.
I'm including Kamal Mostafa in the reply because he's prepared the PPA
that's now active with the latest xastir, and because he understands
Ubuntu and Debian packaging pretty well (better than I do). I'm also
including B'dale Garbee because I reference a chat we had, and Gerald
Stueve, since his Debian packages for xastir have been languishing.
OK, I built a 1.9.9 version for Debian.
While setting up a PPA for bleeding edge xastir in Ubuntu seems like a
great idea (and might be for developers), we run a real risk of it
becoming the defacto xastir delivery channel for Ubuntu. This would be a
real problem because it circumvents the desired flow of packages from
Upstream (you) to Debian and then on to Ubuntu.
Having packages flow through Debian in this way prevents splitting the
Debian and Ubuntu communities, keeps versions mostly sync'd, and makes
everything easier. It also lets us apply our limited packaging resources
in only one place.
The real solution to the problem is to have an active Debian maintainer,
who can keep the Debian xastir package up to date. Even with a packager,
things stall in Debian, and xastir is a really good example of this. In
April Gerald Stueve packaged 1.9.8, and it's still sitting and waiting
for upload by a Debian Developer.
Part of the reason that packages stall in Debian is because they had a
very prolific developer and packager (Joop Stakenborg) who recently
reduced his involvement in Debian for personal reasons. Some people have
stepped up to help with Joop's packages, but he had very big shoes to
fill. We are cultivating Debian Maintainers and Debian Developers from
within the Ubuntu-hams community, but we can't step in overnight and
perform the Debian tasks.
I just had a chat with B'dale Garbee, who is a long-time Debian
Developer and ham package maintainer. He understands the current
Re: Xastir and Ubuntu mailbox:///home/aitch100s76/.thunderbird/7s7rt3t0.de...
2 of 3 08/02/2010 06:04 PM
situation, and said that he will upload Debian packages which are
prepped by community members, as long as they are simple and obvious
things like new upstream versions, and the uploads don't include any
controversy over undoing changes or issues like that. He's also
available to sponsor people who want to become Debian Maintainers, and
help get them upload rights for specific packages.
Only patch for Debian geotiff subdirectory for include files.
What I propose is this:
If Gerald is interested in an ongoing role as the Debian packager for
xastir, then he can repackage the latest upstream and contact Bdale in
the future for uploads. He could take what Kamal has already done with
xastir-1.9.9 or do it over.
If Gerald isn't interested in packaging xastir for Debian, I'm willing
to take this on and begin working in earnest to become a Debian
Maintainer, working with Bdale. I use xastir so I don't mind getting
more involved with it (although I am not a power user).
If it needs a formal RFS, I will fill one out for tracking.
In either case, we should be able to get the latest xastir into both
Debian and Ubuntu pretty quickly with this plan.
How does that sound to everyone?
Now - the question of whether we should have a daily "unstable" build of
the tip of upstream in a PPA is a separate one, and we can take that up
as needed.
Steve AI4QR
--
Jerry Stueve <K4INT at ARRL.Net>
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