[B.A.T.M.A.N.] batman(d|-vis) deprecated by upstream

[B.A.T.M.A.N.] batman(d|-vis) deprecated by upstream

[Sven Eckelmann]

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Hi,

I just wanted to inform both of you about the upstream state of the batmand
[1] and batman-vis [2].

Marek Lindner stopped to actively maintain batmand a long time ago (my guess
was 2009/2010... after the release of v0.3.2). The maintainer role was vacant
and Elektra Wagenrad tried to be the replacement. Unfortunately, after the
first hype, nothing seemed to be changed from the time were nobody maintained
batmand. No patches were processed and no changes were committed. So parts of
it doesn't build right now and other things don't seem to work as expected.

There are still people which try to create new mesh networks using this
software, but nearly no one from open-mesh has the energy to support them as
most developers switched to batman-adv and batctl. The decision was made to
really say "batmand is deprecated" [3,4] instead of waiting for some fairies
to take over the project. I've already closed the upstream bugtracker and
moved the git repositories [5] in our "obsolete" folder.

The best option for end users is to use a recent kernel with the included
batman-adv (or olsrd [6], babeld, ...). I am personally thinking about
removing the Debian batmand package [7] from all future stable releases, but
have to discuss this with Holger Levsen.

Kind regards,
	Sven

PS: Michael Weber, version 2011.2.0 of batman-adv [8] and batctl [9] were
released [10] some time ago. You may want to update your ebuilds [11,12].
batctl/batman-adv 2011.3.0 will also be released in the coming weeks.
batman-adv 2011.3.0 will be part of linux v3.1 and is "incompatible" with
batctl <=2011.2.0. batctl 2011.3.0 will also include some fixes which make
your sed hacks in src_prepare unnecessary. The compat code in batman-adv for
kernels < 2.6.29 will also be removed.

[1] http://packages.gentoo.org/package/net-misc/batmand
[2] http://packages.gentoo.org/package/net-misc/batman-vis
[3] http://www.open-
mesh.org/wiki/1/BranchesExplained/diff?version=22&version_from=21&commit=View+differences
[4] http://www.open-mesh.org/wiki/open-
mesh/Download/diff?version=55&version_from=54&commit=View+differences
[5] http://git.open-mesh.org/
[6] http://packages.gentoo.org/package/net-misc/olsrd
[7] http://packages.qa.debian.org/b/batmand.html
[8] http://downloads.open-mesh.org/batman/stable/sources/batman-adv/
[9] http://downloads.open-mesh.org/batman/stable/sources/batctl/
[10] http://www.open-mesh.org/wiki/open-mesh/2011-06-19-batman-adv-2011-2-0-release
[11] http://packages.gentoo.org/package/net-misc/batman-adv
[12] http://packages.gentoo.org/package/net-misc/batctl

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Re: [B.A.T.M.A.N.] batman(d|-vis) deprecated by upstream

[elektra]

Hi Sven -

> The decision was
>  made to really say "batmand is deprecated" [3,4] instead of waiting for
>  some fairies to take over the project. I've already closed the upstream
>  bugtracker and moved the git repositories [5] in our "obsolete" folder.

the decision was made by *whom* without informing me beforehand? 

Elektra


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The fact that you talk in your head doesn't mean that you think.

The best way to lose control over yourself is trying to control yourself.

Most people experience themselves as a voice in their head, telling them
who they are, what they think and what they have to do.

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Re: [B.A.T.M.A.N.] batman(d|-vis) deprecated by upstream

[Marek Lindner]

On Tuesday, August 16, 2011 13:15:27 elektra wrote:
> > The decision was
> > 
> >  made to really say "batmand is deprecated" [3,4] instead of waiting for
> >  some fairies to take over the project. I've already closed the upstream
> >  bugtracker and moved the git repositories [5] in our "obsolete" folder.
> 
> the decision was made by *whom* without informing me beforehand?

By me.

Cheers,
Marek

Re: [B.A.T.M.A.N.] batman(d|-vis) deprecated by upstream

[Marek Lindner]

On Tuesday, August 16, 2011 13:20:33 Marek Lindner wrote:
> > > The decision was
> > >
> > > 
> > >  made to really say "batmand is deprecated" [3,4] instead of waiting
> > >for some fairies to take over the project. I've already closed the
> > >upstream bugtracker and moved the git repositories [5] in our
> > >"obsolete" folder.
> >
> > 
> >
> > the decision was made by whom without informing me beforehand?
> 
> By me.

A short amendment to avoid potential misunderstandings:

These "changes" aim to make the current state more visible. For at least 2 
years the batman daemon has not been worked on, package development & 
documentation updates have stalled. Being unaware of the situation the casual 
visitor tries to use batmand, only to run into build and support issues nobody 
wants to deal with. This does not make the project look good - clearly not in 
our interest.

We still host the batmand source code and the available documentation, so that 
people can use it if they want. At the same time we make it obvious that it is 
not recommended by removing the obsolete packages from the distributions and 
by adding big warnings signs on the website.

Of course, as soon as the batmand code / documentation / package(s) is 
actively worked on we can easily switch back. Until then I prefer to openly 
communicate the current state to avoid unpleasant surprises. 

Regards,
Marek

Re: [B.A.T.M.A.N.] batman(d|-vis) deprecated by upstream

[elektra]

Hi -

> A short amendment to avoid potential misunderstandings:

thanks for clarifying. 

Cheers,
Elektra