A word on Trac ticket submissions...

[Daniel J. Luke]

On Jun 22, 2010, at 9:08 AM, Jeff Singleton wrote:
> But I would think the maintainer should be "maintaining" which should include the random test builds to ensure everything still works.

As a maintainer, I do a bunch of testing before I do an update to a port. I rarely test it between updates, however.

You are welcome to a 100% refund of what you've paid me to maintain any ports I touch, though ;-)

> And when the port is broken due to upstream issues, then it should be marked broken and force a working version to be used instead or a note stating what the issue is.  

We've had several ports in the past where MacPorts has reverted to an older working version if an update has caused cross-port issues (something that's broken by itself shouldn't end up being committed - but mistakes do happen).

> I know there are others like me, who tinker, and aren't afraid to start over in the effort of learning.  One thing I always do when something is broken in Macports, is check with the upstream provider for newer code, try compiling it manually, and see what is causing it to be broken in Macports.  If I can figure it out, then I tend to submit a bug/email.

That's really helpful, and I'm sure the community appreciates your efforts to make things better for everyone. Just knowing that something is broken is helpful as well (but if you can find the problem and offer a solution, that's always the best option).

--
Daniel J. Luke                                                                   
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