Source: bcachefs-tools
Version: 24+really1.3.4-2
Severity: serious

I don't think bcachefs-tools in its current state is fit for release.

* The package is severely behind: Debian is currently at 1.3.4. Upstream
is at 1.6.4.

* Chronologically speaking, 1.3.4 was released in November 2023, so in
theory, it's not that old.

In practice, however, bcachefs is a fast-moving project, and in
particular the past few months have been critical both in terms of
pace, and in terms of stabilization: bcachefs was merged in the
upstream Linux kernel, starting with v6.7, released in January 2024.
Linux 6.8 was released this week as well, with even more fixes,
including the ability to use the in-kernel fsck.

* Linux v6.7 entered unstable this week, which opens up the user base
for this package quite a bit. Especially with the recent hype, others
may be inclined to try it, and be surprised by back-and-forth metadata
migrations between kernel and userspace, as a concrete example of a
problem.

* Moreover, even the outdated version that we have in Debian is
crippled, because large parts of its functionality are missing: all
the Rust functionality included in this software, which is ever
increasing (up to being required, in newer upstream releases). This
has been reported previously as #1060256.

* I'd also argue that the package lacks attentive maintainership, and
would recommend to orphan and/or find one or more comaintainers:
- There are various packaging issues: wrong version number, branches
not pushed into git etc. etc. (most reported as #1054620)

- There hasn't been any coordination/two-way street with upstream; I
contributed a bunch of PRs to help with the Rust integration bits in
Debian, and I know Steinar was in touch with them as well, but none
of this was done by the package maintainer or in coordination with
them.

- No serious effort was made to package the Rust bits before. I worked
on it and made it happen with only a few hours of work, as
documented in that bug report above.

- There hasn't been any coordinated system integration effort with
other Debian packages like grub/initramfs-tools/etc. #1061525
describes issues that are across projects and up for us, the
distributor, to really triage and coordinate fixes for.

- Finally, while a bunch of work happened by others, like myself
paving the road for the Rust bits to be enabled, and by Steinar to
prepare fixed packages (and even an NMU), there hasn't been an
appropriate level of response to our contributions IMHO, that would
have included in an upload that includes all of these fixes. We are
basically blocked.

Now, I realize that the maintainer may be quite busy with other tasks, including what I can only image is a busy Debian workload due to some
other, erm, duties (for which I'm thankful!). In an effort to be more collegial, I've even reached out in private, twice. But, I think we are
at the point where weeks pass while the state of this package is simply
not OK, a disservice to our users, and unfit for release, hence this RC
bug. This is a filesystem we're talking about, so outdated/buggy
software can even mean broader system-wide issues including data
corruption.

In terms of a path forward: I would recommend to upload the package as
prepared by Steinar ASAP, and/or submit an RFH/O for the long-term maintainership of the package.

Best,
Faidon

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