OK I'll bite. I wrote a plugin to get mmsd to function with modem manager and I wrote a reference implimentation to integrate MMS functionality into chatty. I also took the time to make sure my patches were upstreamable, and I have taken and worked on every feedback to ensure my patches are upstream able. I filed the ITP bug to include mmsd into Debian proper.
I did all of this back from December to February.
I still have no idea when Debian will bother to look at the mmsd packaging to include it into their repository, nor when my changes for chatty will be integrated. The ofono mailing list and IRC channel (i.e. the original authors of mmsd, but i think they abandoned it as they have said it hasn't been maintained in 8 years) have ignored me, so I doubt my changes will ever go back into upstream mmsd (I just consider what I have a fork now). I'm waiting on the chatty dev to finish off a current project to then get to integrating my MMS patches into chatty.
I still really want to help, but there's not much for me to do except wait for upstream devs to get around to integrating my work.
Being frank, I'm frustrated that I spent all of that time to implement a feature I want and I know a lot of other folks want, but now I'm just in a limbo hoping that others will get around to it.
So I'll ask, if you want folks to help on the boring things or missing functionality, how do you prevent that from happening?
A ton of people want mms support, I really appreciate your work on it. The MMS support is also one of the hard problems nobody wanted to pick up, like the camera support.
The mms stuff in postmarketOS is also still in progress as far as I know, I'm un europe myself, like a lot of the pinephone developers and mms just isn't really a thing which makes integrating these thing quite hard.
> A ton of people want mms support, I really appreciate your work on it. The MMS support is also one of the hard problems nobody wanted to pick up, like the camera support.
I get it, and I get your frustrations too, that's why I just picked it up myself. I really do want to help.
I understand your frustration. I'd imagine this is probably the wrong time to be trying to (presumably) be a new Debian developer trying to get new features integrated with everyone focusing on Bullseye. I suspect they'll get around to it once Bullseye is done (thought you might have to ping them to remind them)
If I can ask, who do I flag down? Despite using the ITP bug and proper Debian process, I haven't gotten an acknowledgement from anyone that seems to control the packaging.
Yeah, figuring out the Debian process can be a pain. More often than not, Debian is just a 'middle man' for the code. So for modemmanager see https://packages.debian.org/bullseye/modemmanager and note the maintainer(s) listed on the right side of the page. Sometimes the package maintainer is also a developer of the upstream code. However, often the maintainer will just be repackaging the upstream code (also listed on the right side of the page) so for new features you would need to get the upstream to incorporate it which would result in the package maintainer automatically incorporating it when they rebase/merge the latest changes. I'm not familiar with modemmanager so the main 'trick' is figuring out who does what for that package. (i.e. is the maintainer an active developer or just more passively repackaging it?)
The issue right now is that Debian maintainers are all pretty busy trying to nail down Bullseye as they're currently in their hard freeze[1] period... lots of bugs and dependency problems to deal with to get to release.
My suggestion would be to wait until Bullseye is released and then contact the maintainer and see if you need to be dealing with them or upstream to get your changes in. If you're impatient, you might have more luck contacting upstream directly right now. Either way, the odds of getting new features in for Bullseye are likely slim to none right now.
So I may be in a weird spot then. I am trying to get mmsd (not modem manager) into Debian proper. Mmsd itself is not in Debian at all.
Per my original comment, I have tried to contact the ofono (mmsd) maintainers via IRC and their mailing list no less than four times to get my patches upstreamed (every time I have been ignored), and at this point I have given up trying to contact them. One of the ofono maintainers has mentioned that mmsd hasn't been worked on in over 8 years, so I think its abandoned.
The Debian on Mobile (i.e. the Mobian and Purism devs) maintainers think the best course of action is to package upstream mmsd, then update with my changes.
So there are two entangled issues here that I would suggest disentangling:
How do you get your changes to mmsd into the upstream mmsd repository on kernel.org? There have been commits to mmsd upstream in 2019. My suggestion would be to CC more folks on your next patch submission, at minimum: the Linux netdev mailing list, the oFono list, everyone in the mmsd AUTHORS file and all the folks who are listed as a committer in any of the mmsd git commits.
How do you get mmsd into Debian? The usual procedure is to upload the package to the mentors site and file a request for sponsor bug report, XCCed to relevant people/lists, which in your case is probably the debian-mobile list, Debian oFono maintainers and any other Debian mobile related addresses (I guess Purism PureOS, Mobian etc). Of course, that doesn't guarantee that a Debian uploader will sponsor the package, but it is a good start.
Do both at the same time, if upstreaming the patches doesn't work out, you can add them to Debian while still figuring out a way to push them upstream.
The debian-on-mobile team is aware of it, but even they have been commenting that getting upstream mmsd will take time. One has suggested to change the bug for a request for sponsor. It sounds like I need to do that.
So the ITP (Intent to Package) and RFS (Request for Sponsor) are two separate things.
The ITP comes before you have started the packaging, it is a notice of intent rather than a request and functions as a way to prevent other folks from spending time on something someone else is spending time on, a place to discuss and document any issues that come up during packaging and a way to advertise the potential new package such that others can get involved and co-maintain the package if they want to. Since you didn't XCC the ITP to debian-devel as is customary (and what reportbug wnpp does), that part of the purpose of ITPs was reduced.
The RFS comes after you consider the packaging complete and ready to be in the Debian archive. It is only for people who aren't yet able to upload themselves. It should be sent once each time you want to upload. It should be directed at debian-mentors (done automatically when using reportbug) and XCCed to the relevant team mailing lists and any other potential sponsors.
and I want to say I did the XCC to the relevant sponsors? I know I included th Debian on Mobile mailing list (they are the ones to suggest how to submit debian packages).
Looks like they did get a copy, but FTR, XCC != CC. XCC is my abbreviation for X-Debbugs-CC, which means that the Debian bug tracker forwards your bug to additional folks. If you use XCC then they get the bug number but if you use CC then they don't, at least for the initial bug submission, obviously for post-submission bug mail you are CCing the bug number.
Gotcha. Unfortunately, I thought I manually added that, but either Evolution didn't understand it or my mailing service didn't like it (which is what I was afraid of and why I CC'ed as well).
I'd definitely proceed as pabs3 suggests. As a short term solution, you might want to contact a-wai and see if your work could live in the Mobian repo in the meantime as I think MMS is still a highly sought after feature.
I did all of this back from December to February.
I still have no idea when Debian will bother to look at the mmsd packaging to include it into their repository, nor when my changes for chatty will be integrated. The ofono mailing list and IRC channel (i.e. the original authors of mmsd, but i think they abandoned it as they have said it hasn't been maintained in 8 years) have ignored me, so I doubt my changes will ever go back into upstream mmsd (I just consider what I have a fork now). I'm waiting on the chatty dev to finish off a current project to then get to integrating my MMS patches into chatty.
I still really want to help, but there's not much for me to do except wait for upstream devs to get around to integrating my work.
Being frank, I'm frustrated that I spent all of that time to implement a feature I want and I know a lot of other folks want, but now I'm just in a limbo hoping that others will get around to it.
So I'll ask, if you want folks to help on the boring things or missing functionality, how do you prevent that from happening?