Bug 762958 – app-misc/mime-types: consider using mailcap as an upstream

• Product: Gentoo Linux
• Status: RESOLVED FIXED

[Description kfm 2021-01-01 19:38:46 UTC]

Currently, Gentoo takes matters into its own hands, as concerns packaging /etc/mime.types, and there are signs that it is atrophying. However, there is a mailcap project, which is maintained by Fedora developers at https://pagure.io/mailcap. 

I posit that mailcap should be considered as an upstream, because its commit history demonstrates that it receives updates with greater regularity. Currently, there are five other outstanding bugs against app-misc/mime-types, some of which date from as early as 2015. Three of these - bug 487622, bug 534658 and bug 542190 - would be rectified by switching to mailcap. That leaves another two, which could potentially be resolved by cooperating with the mailcap maintainers.

As a bonus, it includes a script for generating a list of mime types that may be directly included by nginx. Arch Linux takes advantage of this by preventing the installation of the woefully incomplete mime.types file that is included by the nginx sources and, instead, having nginx depend on their mailcap package, which produces /etc/nginx/mime.types. This seems like a sensible approach.

I'm taking the liberty of CC'ing net-mail, on the off-chance that it contains any parties that have any interest in this suggestion.

[Comment 1 kfm 2021-01-01 21:27:15 UTC]

Another possibility would be to use Debian's mime-types package. They used to have a monolithic mime-support package but elected to turn it into the equivalent of a virtual, with mime-types (currently) providing the /etc/mime.types file. Even the older mime-support package provided by Debian Buster has such issues as bug 719900 covered.

[Comment 2 Larry the Git Cow 2021-12-30 13:06:52 UTC]

The bug has been referenced in the following commit(s):

https://gitweb.gentoo.org/repo/gentoo.git/commit/?id=c2907c4650dc08334953577355e3e7493b62fc5a

commit c2907c4650dc08334953577355e3e7493b62fc5a
Author:     Eray Aslan <[e-mail]>
AuthorDate: 2021-12-30 13:05:54 +0000
Commit:     Eray Aslan <[e-mail]>
CommitDate: 2021-12-30 13:05:54 +0000

    app-misc/mime-types: add version 2.1.53
    
    new upstream maintained by Fedora devs and hence new version schema.
    a more active upstream should provide a better user experience by giving
    us a more up to date mime-types file
    
    Bug: https://bugs.gentoo.org/762958
    Package-Manager: Portage-3.0.30, Repoman-3.0.3
    Signed-off-by: Eray Aslan <[e-mail]>

 app-misc/mime-types/Manifest                 |  1 +
 app-misc/mime-types/metadata.xml             |  4 ++++
 app-misc/mime-types/mime-types-2.1.53.ebuild | 25 +++++++++++++++++++++++++
 3 files changed, 30 insertions(+)

[Comment 3 Sam James 2021-12-30 13:28:17 UTC]

Thanks eras, can you fix the keywords?

[Comment 4 Larry the Git Cow 2021-12-30 22:52:56 UTC]

The bug has been referenced in the following commit(s):

https://gitweb.gentoo.org/repo/gentoo.git/commit/?id=755fc613040257b60dcbf230e69e12416bac66c1

commit 755fc613040257b60dcbf230e69e12416bac66c1
Author:     Sam James <[e-mail]>
AuthorDate: 2021-12-30 22:52:27 +0000
Commit:     Sam James <[e-mail]>
CommitDate: 2021-12-30 22:52:46 +0000

    app-misc/mime-types: destabilize 9
    
    I think it was accidentally pushed as stable.
    
    Bug: https://bugs.gentoo.org/762958
    Signed-off-by: Sam James <[e-mail]>

 app-misc/mime-types/mime-types-9.ebuild | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

[Comment 5 Larry the Git Cow 2021-12-31 03:04:38 UTC]

The bug has been referenced in the following commit(s):

https://gitweb.gentoo.org/repo/gentoo.git/commit/?id=ee34b46c9a7b566df77297a18cb026bc6b4b64bf

commit ee34b46c9a7b566df77297a18cb026bc6b4b64bf
Author:     Sam James <[e-mail]>
AuthorDate: 2021-12-31 03:03:55 +0000
Commit:     Sam James <[e-mail]>
CommitDate: 2021-12-31 03:04:31 +0000

    app-misc/mime-types: destabilize 2.1.53
    
    Accidentally pushed as stable, I think.
    
    Bug: https://bugs.gentoo.org/762958
    Signed-off-by: Sam James <[e-mail]>

 app-misc/mime-types/mime-types-2.1.53.ebuild | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

https://gitweb.gentoo.org/repo/gentoo.git/commit/?id=364e94c5ae7d8c67353fbf068bdb22476c5f6d72

commit 364e94c5ae7d8c67353fbf068bdb22476c5f6d72
Author:     Sam James <[e-mail]>
AuthorDate: 2021-12-31 03:03:37 +0000
Commit:     Sam James <[e-mail]>
CommitDate: 2021-12-31 03:04:30 +0000

    Revert "app-misc/mime-types: destabilize 9"
    
    This reverts commit 755fc613040257b60dcbf230e69e12416bac66c1.
    
    9 is the old one! Thanks prom.
    
    Bug: https://bugs.gentoo.org/762958
    Signed-off-by: Sam James <[e-mail]>

 app-misc/mime-types/mime-types-9.ebuild | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

[Comment 6 Eray Aslan 2022-01-03 12:49:55 UTC]

(In reply to Larry the Git Cow from comment #4)    
>     I think it was accidentally pushed as stable.

no, that was on purpose but it's OK. Opened #830527 for stabilization.

Closing as https://pagure.io/mailcap is the new upstream now.

[Comment 7 Sam James 2022-01-03 12:50:49 UTC]

(In reply to Eray Aslan from comment #6)
> (In reply to Larry the Git Cow from comment #4)    
> >     I think it was accidentally pushed as stable.
> 
> no, that was on purpose but it's OK. Opened #830527 for stabilization.
> 
> Closing as https://pagure.io/mailcap is the new upstream now.

thanks! and sorry :)