On 2025-04-25 3:28 p.m., Jeremy Drake via Cygwin-apps wrote:
>
> Do you think I should follow Debian here and use that fork? Do I have to
> source the package from git then? Gentoo still follows the actual last
> release
Each used their own expert judgement, as you shall! I'm a bit surprised
that Gentoo went with actual release while Debian went with something
seemingly less vanilla. They may have their reasons.
My first reflex would be to go with the last "release". If that doesn't
work or there are problems (won't build, expects jurassic dependencies,
etc.), we learn something. Even if this compiles, there might be some
longstanding bug that those forks ironed out of this abandonware. Then
try those until you get something that is functional to your satisfaction.
> Doesn't look like gentoo bothers with them but Debian does. Should I try
> to build+package them, or just let people go to udis86.readthedocs.io?
Try? Yes!
If you run into some really complicated bug that prevents building
documentation (crashes, hangs, impossible to meet dependency), it's ok
to give up or sacrifice some part of it (do raise the issue somewhere),
better to have working software and no docs than the opposite. The fact
that there is a long list of stuff involved to produce it is a burden
only for the package maintainer (embrace it, you shall), not the user,
and only once in a while. You are not expected to rebuild and repost the
package every five minutes.
On Gentoo anything in an ebuild must be reproducible for everyone
following that recipe, else either the feature is disabled/hacked or the
ebuild is masked/pulled. With Debian, given that it's a packaged distro,
they have the luxury of having some unusual "custom build" that gets the
job done, and upload it. Sometimes that happens here too.
--
pbl
