Re: Removing old and broken and/or insecure packages

[Robert Elz <kre%munnari.OZ.AU@localhost>]

    Date:        Tue, 26 Jan 2010 13:05:33 +0000
    From:        Dave <dave%email2.asnetinc.net@localhost>
    Message-ID:  <20100126130535.7B36763B1AF%mail.netbsd.org@localhost>

  | so if I'm one of the only guys in the world who still use it,

Maybe you're the only one, currently ... it has been some time since I
needed it (which is why I hadn't even really noticed it had broken).

But that actually puts me in a worse position than you, as I don't
currently have an (even very old) system where this is still working.
I believe the hardware I used this on is still operating, using code
I wrote for it 10 years ago (approx) - if I was asked to make any changes
to that code now, I wouldn't be able to compile it.

  | Even if I had the time to devote to making it buildable on
  | today's GCC, there's no way that a community of two can possibly keep
  | the thing maintained when tomorrow's GCC comes out.

So, I am going to take a look at making it work again, when I get time.
Obviously, for me, it isn't urgent...    So, this is likely to going to
need to wait until March or April (maybe even May) - just please don't
delete the package until after that, then if it still doesn't work around
the middle of the year, I guess I will have failed, and removing it
would be an option.

My definition of "buildable on today's gcc" however will be "pkgsrc can
produce a binary package that works", the method by which this is done
might not be what you'd really desire as being the best way (that is,
if I can make it work by building an older gcc, and using that to compile
it, that's exactly what I will do...)

kre