Hi folks, As I said in my TU application, I want to get involved in trying to grease the wheels of the AUR a little. So, I'm proposing as a first step that we allow (prefer? require?) deletion requests to be handled through the web interface.
The main aim of this is to try to standardise the process and information available in the messages (and therefore archived on aur-general) concerning AUR deletion requests. For example, messages like this are now somewhat meaningless (no offence to the author or anyone else intended): Subject: [aur-general] Delete and orphan request Hi, can somebody delete the following packages: 1) http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=38923 - my mistake, error in package name, replacement here http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=39067 2) http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=17379 and http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=36306 - they duplicate this package http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=5790 3) http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=28544 - this is version from previous developer of Onscripter-en 4) http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=8242 - already included in community etc. etc. The basic idea is this: 1) Any user can click a button to propose a package for deletion. This flags that package as having been proposed, and triggers an email to aur-general and the package maintainer, containing the name of the package and a link to it. 2) TUs and others can discuss the deletion request on aur-general as before. 3) When a decision is made, a TU can then either delete the package, or else cancel the deletion proposal, also on the web interface. Once a package is proposed for deletion, no-one else can also propose it (until / unless the request is cancelled by a TU), so aur-general doesn't get more than one email. I'll forward the patches to this list for review. This is just the first bit of this implementation (it's pretty basic). Still to do (IMO) is: - Include a form for the proposer of the deletion to write a few words about why it should be deleted. - Place information about a package's current "proposed for deletion" status in prominent places on the web interface. - Also email everyone who has asked to be notified about the package. Cheers, Pete. PS. Note that it also requires a small database schema change.