Re: Build errors in GNATS 4.2.0 on Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS

[Chad Walstrom]

John P. Willis <jpw@coherent-logic.com> writes:
> So it appears that a good deal of work needs to be done to bring GNATS
> forward and make it compile properly on current systems.
>
> Should I attempt to go further, or are the GNATS developers already
> working on something in an official capacity? I noticed that GNATS is 
> also gone from the Debian and Ubuntu apt repositories, since Jessie.

I do not know of any official efforts to bring GNU GNATS up to date with
current compilers. In January of this year, John Darrington approached
me to ask if we should decomission the project. I agreed that if we
didn't see renewed interest in the project or someone to take over
maintainership, that its time has probably come.  It has been five years
since any work has been done on GNU GNATS (Alex reported a bug and
submitted a patch in 2016). Is now the time to pick it back up again or
to officially set it down?

GNU GNATS holds a unique space in its approach to bug tracking, and it
has quite a rich history. However, there have been many FOSS competitors
with features that align closer to how people manage their projects
today.

The last bit of work I had done for GNATS was an attempt to migrate the
CVS repo to git using ESR's reposurgeon. I had gotten quite close, but I
feel I got stuck in the minutia of history preservation. I should have
cut-bait sooner and gotten something out there for people to play with.

So, this is primarily an email asking what level of interest there is
for continuing to maintain or support GNU GNATS. If you're using the
platform and have the time, let us know. If you are interested in
becoming a GNU maintainer and would like to adopt this project, please
let us know! Join Savannah and get on the project member list!

-- 
Chad Walstrom <chewie@wookimus.net>
Blog: https://wookimus.net/