Assistance with updating Debian package to 3.x.

[fmitha]

Hi,

I'm in the process of trying to update the Debian package. The most current version packaged for Debian is 2.4.2. The maintainer no longer appears to be active. His last recorded activity is https://lists.debian.org/debian-backports-changes/2018/04/msg00038.html and his overall activity is shown on https://contributors.debian.org/contributor/gareuselesinge@debian/

I don't think this is a terribly difficult job, but I'm not really familiar with Lua. I just started using it recently, because I started using LuaTeX. I doubt I'm in the best person in the world to do so, but I'll probably continue to use Lua because of LuaTeX, and I would prefer a modern Luarocks in Debian.

I'm hoping to get some help from people who are more familiar with Lua and Luarocks than I am. Is it ok if I ask questions about the packaging in this issue? If and when Luarocks 3.x is in Debian, the issue can be closed.

In particular the previous package has a lot of stuff which overrides the default install. I'm not sure how much, if any of it, is necessary.

And is there some way I can test the package is working properly, other than trying to install packages? Is there a test suite?

[daurnimator]

Could you poke some other debian developers to review https://salsa.debian.org/lua-team/luarocks/merge_requests/1 ?

[fmitha]

Hi @daurnimator,

Debian have their procedures about upgrading packages. And I don't think that anyone would take action on a pull/merge request. In any case, I think the packaging probably requires more work. Have you tested it?

In any case, I don't have any kind of pull with Debian developers. They have no reason to listen to me.

[edrx]

Hi @fmitha,

I think I can help - I've packaged things for Debian ages ago, I use Lua and LuaLaTeX a lot, and my newest favorite hobby is to complain about the situation of luarocks in Debian. Get in touch!!! See:

http://angg.twu.net/dednat6.html
http://angg.twu.net/contact.html

[fmitha]

Hi Eduardo,

Thank for your very kind offer. Unfortunately, I've become substantially busier then I was in June 2019, but I'm still using Lua via LuaTeX, and have no plans to stop. (Unless someone was to create a similar PythonTeX, which doesn't seem likely to happen.) And for that reason, I would quite like Luarocks to be usable on Debian. The rest of the Lua packages in Debian are in pretty dire shape too, but the problem with Luarocks being in dire shape is that it's not possible to even install Lua libraries locally, without using a local install of Luarocks. Which really seems like a bit too much of local installation for my taste.

Anyway, the bottom line is that I don't know how much time I would have to participate. But at any rate, how do you think we could proceed with this? Unsurprisingly, there has been no activity with Luarocks since I opened this issue. Do you think it would be reasonable to proceed with the exercise of having Enrico Tassi declared MIA?

Oh, and fancy work on the LuaTeX project. A look at your web pages suggests you're a mathematician (possibly a logician). I used to spend a lot of time learning math once. Though only my BA and MSc are in math.

Would you prefer I email you directly, or should we communicate via this issue for now?

Regards, Faheem Mitha

[edrx]

Hi fmitha, well, I am interested in working on that, for several reasons... I want to learn more about luarocks and about the new ways of creating Debian packages (<- short-term goals), I want to earn karma points with the luarocks developers (a medium-term goal), I want to have better support for luarocks in Debian (long-term (?) goal), and I want to produce "executable notes" for most of that, in the sense of this presentation, http://angg.twu.net/emacsconf2019.html mainly the ideas between 14:18 and 16:34... What parts of the package have you done? Do you have a skeleton that needs a lot of work, or not even that? Cheers! Eduardo Ochs http://angg.twu.net/dednat6.html http://angg.twu.net/emacsconf2019.html http://angg.twu.net/#eev http://angg.twu.net/contact.html

…

On Tue, 21 Jan 2020 at 14:20, fmitha ***@***.***> wrote: Hi Eduardo, Thank for your very kind offer. Unfortunately, I've become substantially busier then I was in June 2019, but I'm still using Lua via LuaTeX, and have no plans to stop. (Unless someone was to create a similar PythonTeX, which doesn't seem likely to happen.) And for that reason, I would quite like Luarocks to be usable on Debian. Anyway, the bottom line is that I don't know how much time I would have to participate. But at any rate, how do you think we could proceed with this? Unsurprisingly, there has been no activity with luarocks since I opened this issue. Do you think it would be reasonable to proceed with the exercise of having Enrico Tassi declared MIA? — You are receiving this because you commented. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#1033?email_source=notifications&email_token=AA3OYWYSHJRDPHBLYGRT2WDQ64VFNA5CNFSM4HXUPHF2YY3PNVWWK3TUL52HS4DFVREXG43VMVBW63LNMVXHJKTDN5WW2ZLOORPWSZGOEJQRGAA#issuecomment-576787200>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AA3OYW4GFASKYWH5NSASN6DQ64VFNANCNFSM4HXUPHFQ> .

[fmitha]

Hi Eduardo,

Call me Faheem.

Those are all very worthy goals, assuming one has the time. I checked what I had done with Luarocks, and the answer is - not very much.

I downloaded the Luarocks 3.1.2 package, which was the current version of the package as of June 2019. Then I tried to adapt the Debian packaging from the last released version, namely 2.4.2+dfsg-1. It turned out to not be so trivial, so I gave up fairly quickly, in part because I had difficulty understanding what Luarocks was doing, and at the time I knew even less about Lua than I do now. And I couldn't find anyone to help. If one could find someone who is familiar with Luarocks (a developer for preference), who was willing to answer question, it would be much easier. Summary: I don't think what I have is worth making public.

Let me know how you want to proceed. Do you want to proceed with creating a Github or Gitlab project for the Luarocks packaging? I think I'd prefer Gitlab, because at least the software is free. But I don't have strong feelings about it. Note that I'm a Mercurial user, not a Git one, so my knowledge about Git is quite limited. But it should not be hard to learn the basics.

I'm reasonably familiar with Debian packaging, though far from an expert. Around 2012, I tried to get a Debian package of Clozure Common Lisp accepted into Debian. My sponsor was Julien Danjou, probably best known as the creator of the Awesome window manager. But it was rejected for no good reason. The package was in good shape - the reason given was quite stupid. And the person who made the decision just ignored my responses. It was all very unprofessional. I'm not sure what you mean by "the new ways of creating Debian packages". Debian packaging has changed very little in recent years.