Re: Ada in Debian: gnat-4.4 is in unstable; please test

[Ludovic Brenta <ludovic@ludovic-brenta.org>]

I wrote on comp.lang.ada:
> My plan for the next release of Debian, code-named Squeeze, is as
> follows:
>
> 2009-02-15: Debian 5.0 "Lenny" released
> 2009-07-28: gnat-4.4 reaches unstable
> 2009-09-30: libgnat-4.4 ABI freeze; start of transition of all Ada
> packages
> 2010-02-15: end of support for Debian 4.0 "Etch" (i.e. Lenny+12
> months)
> 2010-02-28: end of transition and, probably, freeze of all packages in
> Debian
> 2010-03-*: removal of gnat-4.3
> sometime between 2010-08 and 2011-02: release of Squeeze, i.e. between
> 18 and 24 months after Lenny.

I'm sorry but I'll have to change this plan drastically.  The recent
announcement of the new two-year time-based release schedule[1] caught
me by surprise, especially the fact that Squeeze will actually have a
one-year release schedule :(

[1] http://www.debian.org/News/2009/20090729

This leaves only 4 months to complete the transition of all Debian
packages.  Because of this, I'm officially abandoning my goal of
providing support for multi-arch (32 and 64-bit) and cross compilers
in Squeeze and I will shorten the time for compiler testing.  The new
schedule is:

2009-07-28: gnat-4.4 reaches unstable.  Immediate start of transition
for other packages.
2009-08-31: libgnat-4.4 ABI freeze and re-upload of dependent packages
as necessary.
2009-09-30: compiler freeze.
2009-11-30: end of transition and package freeze (release-critical bug
fixes still allowed).
2010-12-31: gnat-4.3 removed from Debian.

It is possible that I cannot complete the transition of all packages
due to lack of time (remember: I'm a volunteer working on my spare
time on Debian!). In such an event, I will request *REMOVAL* of some
packages from Debian. The packages that have a Request for Help or
Request for Adoption bug open against them will be the first packages
dropped; they are:

gnat-gps (RFH: http://bugs.debian.org/496905)
libtexttools (RFA: http://bugs.debian.org/477474)
gnade (RFA: http://bugs.debian.org/496787)

So, if you use or have any interest in those packages, please help
with the transition.  You do not have to be a Debian Developer to help
or even to adopt a package officially.  If I do not receive any help,
I will conclude that nobody is interested enough to justify the effort
and simply drop the packages mentioned.

--
Ludovic Brenta.