Hi!

I have been working on a fork of EmulationStation (the front-end used by
the RetroPie project) for around 1,5 years and would like to add this application to Debian.
The name of the project is ES-DE (EmulationStation Desktop Edition) and
it runs on Linux, BSD Unix, macOS and Windows.

I'm a little bit lost though regarding the process, should I go ahead
and create a Request For Sponsor report right away, or should I first
get in contact with someone in the Debian Games team for example?
I have read the DebianMentorsFaq document but I'm still a bit confused regarding the proper steps to take.

FYI, I already distribute the application as a .deb package via the
project website and it has been tested on Ubuntu and Linux Mint, but I
propably don't fulfill all the Debian packaging requirements.

The website for ES-DE is:
https://es-de.org

The source code is hosted on GitLab: https://gitlab.com/leonstyhre/emulationstation-de

Many thanks in advance!

Regards,

Leon

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On Wed, Aug 11, 2021 at 11:25:05AM +0200, Leon Styhre wrote:

I'm a little bit lost though regarding the process, should I go ahead and create a Request For Sponsor report right away, or should I first get in contact with someone in the Debian Games team for example?

First you should create a source package that is good enough to be ready
for reviewing. Finding a sponsor is only the next step. Please follow https://mentors.debian.net/intro-maintainers and then https://mentors.debian.net/sponsors/

FYI, I already distribute the application as a .deb package via the project website

Unless you already have a source package (which you didn't mention) this
is not that useful.

--
WBR, wRAR

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On Wed, Aug 11, 2021 at 02:41:03PM +0200, Leon Styhre wrote:

Thank you for your quick reply!

Yes there is a software package automatically generated when creating a release on GitLab.
For example https://gitlab.com/leonstyhre/emulationstation-de/-/archive/v1.1.0/emulationstation-de-v1.1.0.tar.gz
It's as simple as running "cmake . && make" to build it, assuming all dependencies (which are all part of Debian) are fulfilled.
There are also detailed build instructions available at https://gitlab.com/leonstyhre/emulationstation-de/-/blob/master/INSTALL.md

Yup, that doesn't use Debian source packages.

I'm not sure what "good enough" means in this context

In the contex of Debian source packages "good enough to be ready for
reviewing" means "mostly conformant to Debian packaging practices. But you don't have a Debian source package.

The reason I mention that there is already a .deb package available is that the software is working fine on Debian-based systems, is following the
Debian directory structure, contains a proper man page etc.

Sure, but until you have a Debian source package that builds those debs
you have nothing to be reviewed and uploaded, so you should start with
making one.

I will then proceed to file a WNPP bug report of the type RFP.
It is good quality software and there is currently nothing equivalent on Debian so I hope someone will be able to support with maintaining the package!

If I understood the documentation correctly, since I'm asking for help for someone to maintain the Debian package, I should not proceed with the other steps such as publishing the package, look for a sponsor etc?
Thanks!

It wasn't clear from your initial message that you don't intend to
maintain it yourself. In this case you indeed can only file an RFP (though
that doesn't mean anybody will act on it and an RFP is not needed for
someone to package something).

--
WBR, wRAR

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Thank you for your quick reply!

Yes there is a software package automatically generated when creating a
release on GitLab.
For example https://gitlab.com/leonstyhre/emulationstation-de/-/archive/v1.1.0/emulationstation-de-v1.1.0.tar.gz
It's as simple as running "cmake . && make" to build it, assuming all dependencies (which are all part of Debian) are fulfilled.
There are also detailed build instructions available at https://gitlab.com/leonstyhre/emulationstation-de/-/blob/master/INSTALL.md

I'm not sure what "good enough" means in this context though, from a
software perspective it definitely is, as this is a stable and
well-tested release that works on multiple operating systems.
But maybe it's not good enough when it comes to Debian packaging? It's regarding this part that I'm a bit lost.

The reason I mention that there is already a .deb package available is
that the software is working fine on Debian-based systems, is following
the Debian directory structure, contains a proper man page etc.

I will then proceed to file a WNPP bug report of the type RFP.
It is good quality software and there is currently nothing equivalent on
Debian so I hope someone will be able to support with maintaining the
package!

If I understood the documentation correctly, since I'm asking for help
for someone to maintain the Debian package, I should not proceed with
the other steps such as publishing the package, look for a sponsor etc?
Thanks!

Regards,

Leon

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Thanks again for your response.
Sorry that I was not clear with my initial message, no I'm not able to
maintain the package myself.

The application will be packaged as Snap, Flatpak, and for
Debian/Ubuntu/Mint, Arch/Manjaro, Fedora, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD,
macOS, Windows, Steam and probably more platforms.
I'm afraid that it's not realistic that I do all of this packaging on my
own for all these platforms.
I also need to do the actual application development after all!

I've just filed the RFP, I'll now hope for the best and that someone
picks it up.

Regards,

Leon

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