Package: ftp.debian.org Severity: normal Plowshare is a tool for interacting with file sharing websites. The plowshare package itself contains only the framework (implemented in shell scripts) but separate "modules" are needed to actually implement support for specific websites.
The modules need to change rapidly to keep up with developments on the file sharing websites, and as such are not a great fit for Debian packaging (I tried in the past but eventually removed them). The upstream-endorsed way to get the modules is to use a bundled script to download them, but there are security concerns with downloading a bunch of shell scripts from the internet and blindly executing them. There is also a security concern with the use of a javascript engine to interact with the sometimes sketchy file sharing sites that resulted in a Debian patch to disable this feature by default. With the JS engine disabled, many modules don't work. Upstream development on these modules has essentially stopped, and presumably many are now broken. In theory you can write your own modules, in which case the plowshare package has some value by itself. I suspect that few people would do this though, especially without any public place to share modules and the burden of maintaining them. Popcon stats show a decline in reports for plowshare since the removal of the modules. It is a leaf package with no reverse dependencies.
