• Bug#1110190: larch: Should larch be removed from unstable?

    From Andreas Tille@21:1/5 to All on Thu Jul 31 16:00:01 2025
    Source: larch
    Version: 1.1.2-2.1
    Severity: important
    X-Debbugs-Cc: Debian Ruby Team <[email protected]>, Martina Ferrari <[email protected]>, Package Salvaging Team <[email protected]>

    Dear Martina and Ruby team,

    I suggest removing larch from Debian for the following reasons:

    * Upstream has archived the git repository back in 2017
    * The package is failing its autopkgtest in Salsa CI[1] with the
    message: Could not find 'highline'
    * Upstream author said in the metadata that it works with highline 1.x,
    and we are now at 3.x. does it still work? who knows,
    there is no test suite
    * Failing the autopkgtest will prevent the package to testing
    so we will create a RC bug sooner or later.
    * There are very few votes (green line) in popcon
    https://qa.debian.org/popcon-graph.php?packages=larch&show_installed=on&show_vote=on&want_legend=on&want_ticks=on&from_date=&to_date=&hlght_date=&date_fmt=%25Y-%25m&beenhere=1
    * The last upload of this package was in 2016 - is there any
    remaining interest in maintaining this package?

    This bug serves as a pre-removal warning. After one month, the bug will be reassigned to ftp.debian.org to actually request removal of the package.

    In case the package should be kept in unstable, please provide some
    information how we could sensibly fix the autopkgtest. I'd happily
    volunteer to finalise the upload if you can either provide patch here
    or commit a solution to Git.

    In case the package should be removed from unstable, you may reassign this
    bug report:

    Control: severity -1 normal
    Control: retitle -1 RM: larch -- RoM; rc-buggy
    Control: reassign -1 ftp.debian.org
    Control: affects -1 + src:larch

    Alternatively, you may wait a month and have it reassigned.

    In case you disagree with the above, please add a wontfix tag to this bug.

    Control: tags -1 + wontfix

    Doing so will also prevent automatic reassignment.

    This package was highlighted in the Bug of the Day[2] initiative, which
    aims to introduce newcomers to manageable tasks and guide them through
    the workflow to solve them. The focus of this initiative is on migrating packages to Salsa, as it's a great way to help newcomers become familiar
    with a consistent Git-based workflow.

    Kind regards
    Andreas.

    [1] https://salsa.debian.org/ruby-team/larch/-/jobs/7897195
    [2] https://salsa.debian.org/qa/tiny_qa_tools/-/wikis/Tiny-QA-tasks



    -- System Information:
    Debian Release: 13.0
    APT prefers testing
    APT policy: (501, 'testing'), (50, 'buildd-unstable'), (50, 'unstable'), (5, 'experimental'), (1, 'buildd-experimental')
    Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

    Kernel: Linux 6.12.27-amd64 (SMP w/4 CPU threads; PREEMPT)
    Locale: LANG=de_DE.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=de_DE.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8), LANGUAGE=de_DE:de
    Shell: /bin/sh linked to /usr/bin/dash
    Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)
    LSM: AppArmor: enabled

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)