-----Original Message----- > Date: Thu, 10 Jun 2010 00:31:25 +0200 > Subject: Re: [aur-general] TU application for Thomas Dziedzic > From: Xyne <[email protected]> > To: [email protected]
> Stefan Husmann wrote: > > > well, sage-mathematics is not a package, it is a distribution (btw, > > do you know scilab?). Some years ago I asked on this list if it > > should go to community, and the short discussion ended in the > > conclusion, that it should not. But I am fine with disussing it > > again. > > > > I installed Sage once from the AUR back when it was compiled in the > install script (which is also what led to my 32 MB Pacman log). This > seemed very hackish to me and I would expect that was a factor in its > exclusion from [community]. Looking at the current PKGBUILD, it seems > that upstream has finally cleaned up their build scripts to the point > that Sage can be packaged properly. > > Considering this along with the relative popularity of Sage (both the > AUR package and the application in general), it would probably be > worth reconsidering its inclusion in [community]. > > Incidentally, I remember that when I compiled it the package > duplicated several other packages, e.g. maxima, because it includes > other > applications internally. Is there any way (yet) to make it use other > packages instead? If not, does it fully provide any other packages? > > > > As for Thomas' application, I have no objections or concerns at the > moment. I've noticed him on the forum and I also use some of his > packages in the AUR (although I hadn't realized that the accounts > belonged to the same person). His packaging skills seem good to me and > he's responsive to user feedback. Coupled with the general attitude > that I've seen in his posts I think he would make a great addition to > the team. > > As for the questions raised by others of what he specifically hopes to > do as a TU, I think a focus on scientific apps is a good cause. > Science apps form an important niche and having TUs who can properly > maintain science packages will benefit all users with an interest in > science.* > > /Xyne > > > > * The idea of an "arch-science" team comes to mind, similar to the > "arch-haskell" team, which has done great work in making Arch useful > for Haskell users, but I don't actually have any concrete ideas of > what that would entail. > > Hello, I am the former maintainer of the sage-mathematics package in AUR. At the time I asked for inclusion in community it was not packaged in the install file, but using a "regular" PKGBUILD. This method stopped working later. The main reason for not including it was the mentioned duplication of packages. I believe this issue would be difficult to solve. The packages sage uses are mostly altered in a way to make them integrate into the "distribution". I do not know if there is a complete list of changes they made, even a complete list of packages they changed. I was sometimes thinkig about a arch-sage-distribution, that consists of the arch core packages, sage as base system, and that takes care of not installing packages that are included in sage from the arch repos. I am not sure if this is technically doable or advisable. One would have two package managers, pacman and spkg. Regards Stefan
