Thanks for giving us that thorough update. I really appreciate your consistent work improving the project and keeping it very alive, and I like the progress that you're describing.
I do look forward to returning to PR 1895 (https://github.com/bit-team/backintime/pull/1895) before long and finishing that up with you. Sorry to hear that you're getting AI slop dumped on the project. Are you still considering moving from GitHub? I wonder if that would help reduce it. I would be happy with such a move. Derek Veit On Wednesday, May 6th, 2026 at 10:50 AM, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: > Hello everyone, > > The latest release of Canonical Ubuntu 26.04 LTS (Resolute > Raccoon) is an opportunity to give a short overview of the current > state of Back In Time and what is coming next. > > Current Status > ============== > - Latest release: 1.6.1 > - Available in latest Debian GNU/Linux (stable, "Trixie", 13) > - Available in latest Ubuntu 26.04 LTS (universe repository) > - EncFS: > - Deprecated and effectively disabled > - Existing profiles still accessible > - Will be removed completely in the next release > > Next Release > ============ > - Planned as 2.0.0 [7] > - New mount subsystem (rewritten from scratch) to provide maintainable > gocryptfs support [14] > - Removal of EncFS [8] > - Fixes for rsync change detection and permission handling; may > slip to another version if not sufficient in time [10] > - My goal is to release this as soon as possible to introduce breaking > changes most far long before a new Debian release, to give Back In > Time the time to evolve and stabilize. > > Other big ToDo's and Long-Term Ideas for later Releases > ======================================================= > - New configuration management code [11] > - Configuration file in TOML format [12] > - Internal refactoring across multiple layers, improving > maintainability, testability and test coverage > - Several GUI improvements > - Integrate "Snapshots dialog" features into main window and > remove the dialog itself > - Improve "Manage profiles" dialog > - etc > > Project and infrastructure topics > ================================= > - Migration to Python build system (PEP 517/621) [13] > - Moving from Microsoft GitHub to Codeberg.org > - Debian maintenance situation remains unresolved. Practically its > status is "orphaned" (Debian meaning for "not maintained"). > - Lost contact to former upstream maintainer Germar despite multiple > attempts > - Handling of low-quality ("AI slop") contributions remains an issue > - Code reviews are missing. In most cases there is no second pair of > eyes when merge my code. > - There is also a lack of manual tests. > > Additional Notes > ================ > Thank you > --------- > I need to express my gratitude to Fabio Fantoni and Danel Echeverry > stepping in for the original "Debian maintainer" Jonathan Wiltshier > ("jwm") and packaging Back In Time for Debian. Also a big Thank You > goes to Skia about approving an Ubuntu Freeze Exception and upload > the latest BIT version to Ubuntu's universe repository [4], after we > missed their Freeze deadline. > > Contribution quality and AI slop > -------------------------------- > This is one of my very personal tasks in this project. It is an ongoing > topic with no easy solution. > > As maintainer I grow suspicious to every unknown account (first-time > contributor) not saying "Hello", having to much bling bling icons on > their profile page or coming from one of the countries producing > millions of AI-using-college-students. > > I am watching myself and don't like what I see. I want to assume the > best efforts in all contributors from the very first beginning, no > matter their account age, skill level, or culture. But "AI" and the > marketing behind it poisoned that social contract. > > But fact is, that not a small amount of the first time contributions are > "AI slop" and/or of extreme low quality. The tool is not the problem but > contributors not taking the responsibility for "their" code. > > That contributions would require significant review effort just to > decided if it is AI or not. And this is even before starting the review > itself. Because I am not willing to invest sucht efforts and to keep > maintenance sustainable, I tend to close such PR's early. I also report > that accounts to Microsoft's abuse team. But I am only a human being, > not perfect also sometimes not in the perfect mood. So it comes that > sometimes I false-close and miss the best efforts of a first-time > contributor. > > Improving this process without discouraging legitimate contributors is > an open task. > > Other projects I am involved with and occupied by > ------------------------------------------------- > I need to be careful to stay focused and not lose myself in too many > things at the same time. Currently, besides Back In Time, I am working > on several other projects: > > - I reactivated my old RSS reader project "Feedybus" [1] > - My "Hyperorg" project need some attention because someone wants to > package it for Debian [2]. > - Because ongoing resource issues on the side of Debian Maintainers, I > created a helper tool for them, named "spdx2debian", to ease their > burden with managing copyright and license information [3]. > > Thank you for reading that far. I am always interested in your feedback. > A second opinion or a second pair of eyes is also a valuable > contribution. > > Best wishes, > Christian Buhtz > > [1] https://codeberg.org/buhtz/Feedybus > [2] https://codeberg.org/buhtz/hyperorg > [3] https://codeberg.org/buhtz/spdx2debian > [4] https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/backintime/+bug/2142983 > [5] https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/backintime > [6] https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/backintime > [7] https://github.com/bit-team/backintime/milestone/36 > [8] https://github.com/bit-team/backintime/issues/1734 > [10] https://github.com/bit-team/backintime/issues/2388 > [11] https://github.com/bit-team/backintime/pull/1850 > [12] https://github.com/bit-team/backintime/issues/1984 > [13] https://github.com/bit-team/backintime/issues/1575 > [14] https://github.com/bit-team/backintime/pull/2449 > _______________________________________________ > Bit-dev mailing list -- [email protected] > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > https://mail.python.org/mailman3//lists/bit-dev.python.org > Member address: [email protected] > _______________________________________________ Bit-dev mailing list -- [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] https://mail.python.org/mailman3//lists/bit-dev.python.org Member address: [email protected]
