RFC: removal of gtk+ and gnome-1.x from moonbase

[Duncan Gibson]

Auke wrote:
> what *is* the discussion then? Here's some answers we should see:
>
> 1) more removals that fall in the same category or new categories
> 2) regular cleanups of moonbase
> 3) limiting the size of moonbase going forward
> 4) identifying _must_have_ modules that may not be deleted
>    (again, only valid long-term arguments please).
> 5) preventive bitrot maintenance and testing
>    (yearly compile tests for every module)

I agree that it would be helpful to clean out the obsolete stuff from
the moonbase on a regular basis for two reasons:

a) maintaining stuff that nobody will use (or rather that nobody should
   use) is a waste of time and effort that could be spent elsewhere.

b) as a relative noob, I often 'lvu search' for something and find an
   old module that looks like it might do what I want. In reality, some
   of these modules will never work on my box with a 2.6 kernel, or
   will conflict with some newer module. Some of these old modules have
   simply been superseded, but your average noob won't know that.

To help with regular culling like this, and especially with point 5,
I suggest supplementing the UPDATED field in DETAILS with a 'CHECKED'
or 'VERIFIED' field. Some modules haven't been updated for years, and
are still valid, but there is no way of knowing from UPDATED alone.
People, including ordinary users like me, could make slow background
sweeps through the modules (sort on UPDATED on modules.ll.org) and
check the oldest, make sure they download, build, etc. If yes, then
add the CHECKED field (or whatever name) in zlocal, and then submit it.

When the module is submitted, the devs can decide whether it's still
valid, and update it accordingly. If it's been superseded the module
should be moved to a obsolete or superseded section of the moonbase,
or have a SUPERSEDED_BY comment added as variable or description line
that tells the user what module(s) to use instead.

Modules that have been marked as obsolete or superseded should be
removed after a certain amount of time.

Old modules that can't be built should be reported too, so they can
be removed.

Cheers
Duncan / engelsman

PS. I use xmms