Re: Nmap not updated in Debian?

[Fyodor <fyodor () insecure org>]

On Fri, Jun 25, 2010 at 09:31:16PM +0200, Jan-Oliver Wagner wrote:
> anyone knows why nmap is not getting update in Debian Sid?
>
> There is a "new upstream release" bug entry for Debian,
> but it reveals no information why it is being hold back.

Hi Jan.  It looks like the Nmap in Debian stable is 4.62 and even
unstable is 5.00:

http://packages.debian.org/unstable/net/nmap

5.00 is about a year old, so I agree that a newer version would be
very welcome.  The maintainer is Lamont Jones, who has traditionally
done a good job but I guess he hasn't had time lately to do this.

The good news is that this is something that Debian+Nmap users can
affect if they'd like to help.  I'm not a Debian expert, but I read this at lwn.net:

  In other words, [Debian leader] Stefano is pushing Debian developers
  to use the non-maintainer update (NMU) process to push fixes into
  other developers' packages. Traditionally, Debian has given its
  developers a high level of control over their packages; an NMU is
  seen as an action to be taken only when there is a dire need to do
  so. Stefano thinks that NMUs should be done much more frequently;
  the "delayed" mechanism should be used to give the package
  maintainer a chance to respond to the changes.

  The use of NMUs is at the core of Stefano's RC bug of the week
  initiative. He has performed some 180 NMUs fixing RC bugs without
  hearing a single complaint from the maintainers involved. Instead,
  he often gets thanks. On occasion, the maintainer has overridden the
  NMU with a different fix, but that's good too: it still means that
  the bug gets fixed. All told, Stefano thinks it has been a
  successful initiative which should be adopted by others. [1]

Any Debian developers here could try the NMU process, and even folks
who aren't could email Lamont and offer to help.  I imagine that the
more interest he sees in a newer Nmap, the sooner he will update.

Cheers,
Fyodor

[1] http://lwn.net/Articles/391562/
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