One of the GNOME Calendar developers (Hari Rana) has made public a conflict with the package maintainer in the distribution. Linux Mint. The conflict is due to the fact that in Linux Mint ships with a modified, legacy version of GNOME Calendar. Despite the specific changes, the application is packaged under the name GNOME Calendar, giving users the impression that it's the original project.
In the GNOME Calendar variant from Linux Mint still has some unfixed bugs, and users regularly contact the GNOME Calendar developers regarding these issues, believing them to be responsible. The app's "About" page maintains the main project's contact information, and users can report issues directly to the GNOME Calendar developers, even though the reported issues are either already fixed in current versions of GNOME Calendar or are caused by changes made by the package maintainer. Linux Mint.
Nine months ago, one of the key GNOME Calendar developers created a ticket in the bug tracker. Linux Mint, in which he asked the GNOME Calendar package maintainer to remove all references to the main project and rebrand the application by replacing the icon. The request went unanswered for six months, and after reminding the package maintainer of its existence, Linux Mint asked for clarification on the specific problematic changes being discussed. He also emphasized that they were in the supported branches. Linux Mint and LMDE use packages imported from Ubuntu 24.04 LTS and Debian 13, and the corresponding versions of GNOME 46 and 48 supplied by these distributions.
The developer of GNOME Calendar explained that he does not have time to analyze the changes in the package from Linux Mint and removing individual changes won't solve the problem, as the package based on GNOME 46 and 48 lags significantly behind the current version. He believes the problem can be solved by removing the package or rebranding the fork and removing all references to GNOME.
The package handler responded that he had double-checked all the specific Linux Mint changed the changes and found no issues. It also noted that packages with an outdated version of GNOME Calendar from Ubuntu 24.04 LTS and Debian 13 is used by millions of users and clarified whether the developer is going to demand from Debian и Ubuntu stop supplying their packages.
The GNOME Calendar developer responded that it was not so much a matter of fixing the changes, but rather that Linux Mint ships problematic versions of GNOME Calendar, forcing users to submit bug reports to the main project. And we're not talking about packages from Debian Stable or Ubuntu LTS, and about the package from Linux Mint and complaints coming from users Linux Mint, not from users Debian и UbuntuIf complaints were sent by package users Debian и Ubuntu, then a similar request would be sent to these projects.
Accompanying package in Linux Mint wrote that the difference is in the packages from Debian/Ubuntu and a package of Linux Mint only has some additional fixes, and while it ships with GNOME 46, it can't update GNOME Calendar to the state of GNOME 50. By removing the specific Linux Mint package users will receive an even more problematic version, but this time from the repository Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, also based on GNOME 46, but without the bug fixes added by the package maintainer in Linux Mint. Therefore, the only way to block the supply is Linux Mint and LMDE legacy versions of GNOME Calendar - remove the package from Ubuntu 24.04 LTS and Debian 13, otherwise these versions will still be installed from the repositories of these distributions.
One of the discussion participants suggested a solution by adding a GNOME Calendar version field to the bug report template, which would allow for immediate closure of issues related to outdated versions. The GNOME Calendar developer wrote that complaints are not limited to the official bug report form, and that many users report issues through social media, Matrix chat, and other communication channels. In response, the package maintainer questioned the implications of removing the links in the "About" dialog, which were initially discussed, when the developer simply doesn't want users running older versions.
After this, the maintainer closed the ticket, explaining that removing the links in the "About" dialog would only solve the issue in the short term, but would not resolve the systemic problem with the delivery of outdated versions in LTS distributions. Furthermore, a similar change would then need to be made in Debian с Ubuntu, since there is no reason why the problem would only affect Mint but not manifest itself in Ubuntu и DebianThe GNOME Calendar code license allows for unrestricted distribution of the program, and to prevent distribution of older versions, a switch to a non-free license is necessary.
The developer of GNOME Calendar stood by his opinion and published an article criticizing the delivery of the old version in Linux Mint, in which he mentioned that Linux Mint is shifting responsibility for bugs to the GNOME Calendar developers and is likely infringing the GNOME trademark by distributing unsupported builds but presenting them as supported by the main project, misleading users to avoid maintaining them themselves.
Source: opennet.ru
