Re: CVS commit: pkgsrc/sysutils

[Greg Troxel <gdt%lexort.com@localhost>]

Manuel Bouyer <bouyer%antioche.eu.org@localhost> writes:

> On Fri, Aug 22, 2025 at 06:36:28AM -0400, Greg Troxel wrote:
>> "Manuel Bouyer" <bouyer%netbsd.org@localhost> writes:
>> 
>> > Module Name:	pkgsrc
>> > Committed By:	bouyer
>> > Date:		Fri Aug 22 09:05:24 UTC 2025
>> >
>> > Modified Files:
>> > 	pkgsrc/sysutils/xenkernel415: MESSAGE
>> > 	pkgsrc/sysutils/xentools415: MESSAGE
>> >
>> > Log Message:
>> > Note that the xen*415 packages are unmaintained and will be removed after
>> > the next stable branch; suggest switching to newer Xen
>> 
>> This is contrary to what is in the pkgsrc guide.  Our longstanding
>> convention for a package being unmaintained upstream is to note this
>> in DESCR.  Please adjust.
>
> This has already been discussed if I remember properly, and no good solution
> was proposed.
> What is in the pkgsrc guide doesn't work.

pkg-vulnerabilities seems like a good solution for EOL software.

DESCR is supposd to describe what's in the package.  Especially when
there are multiple versions of an upstream, it's important for people
choosing among them to understand what's EOL, what's old, what's
current, and what's too-new-to-be-stable.

MESSAGE basicaly doesn't work at all; it scrolls by in bulk operations.

The basic problem is that you are worried about people that are just not
paying attention at all.  Those people are going to have trouble anyway.
Xen is complicated, and really anybody running Xen on NetBSD should be
on port-xen.

Thus they will see the note you posted to port-xen announcing that 4.20
has arrived (which is huge and welcome news!), and that 4.15 is about to
go.

I also don't understand why 4.15 isn't just being deleted right now.
It's been crufty for a very long time, and anybody who hasn't migrated
to 4.18 is "woefully behind".   The universal symbol for "you really
really should no longer using this" is removing it.

So, we could ask on port-xen: are any actual people using 4.15 today?
If so, pleaes explain why, and if your system is generally up to date
(netbsd stable branch, pkgsrc 2025Q2 or current), or not.  My guess is
that there are no users who intend/want to run 4.15.    Removing it from
pkgsrc doesn't uninstall their packages.