One of the GNOME Calendar developers (Hari Rana) publicly raised a conflict with the maintainer of the package in the Linux Mint distribution. The conflict arises because Linux Mint ships a package with a modified outdated version of GNOME Calendar. Despite the specific changes, the application is provided under the name GNOME Calendar, which leads users to believe they are using the original project. <\/p>\n
In the GNOME Calendar version from Linux Mint, some errors remain unresolved, and users regularly reach out to the main developers of GNOME Calendar, believing they are responsible for the issues that arise. The contact details for the main project are saved on the 'About' page in the application, and users send notifications about the problems directly to the GNOME Calendar developers, despite the fact that the described issues are either already fixed in the latest versions of GNOME Calendar or are caused by changes made by the accompanying package in Linux Mint. <\/p>\n
Nine months ago, one of the key developers of GNOME Calendar created a ticket in the Linux Mint bug tracker, requesting the maintainer of the GNOME Calendar package to remove all links pointing to the main project and to perform a rebranding, replacing the application icon. The request remained unanswered for six months, and after a reminder about its existence, the maintainer of the package in Linux Mint asked for clarification on which problematic changes were referenced. He also emphasized that the supported branches of Linux Mint and LMDE use packages imported from Ubuntu 24.04 LTS and Debian 13, corresponding to the versions of GNOME 46 and 48 shipped in those distributions. <\/p>\n
The GNOME Calendar developer explained that he does not have time to analyze the changes in the Linux Mint package and that removing individual changes will not resolve the issue, as the package based on GNOME 46 and 48 is significantly outdated compared to the current version. In his opinion, the problem can be resolved by either removing the package or rebranding the fork and removing all links pointing to GNOME. <\/p>\n
The accompanying package responded that it further checked all the changes specific to Linux Mint and found no issues. It also pointed out that the packages with the outdated version of GNOME Calendar from Ubuntu 24.04 LTS and Debian 13 are used by millions of users, and asked whether the developer intends to request Debian and Ubuntu to stop providing their packages. <\/p>\n
The GNOME Calendar developer replied that this is not so much about fixing changes as it is about Linux Mint supplying problematic versions of GNOME Calendar, forcing users to report bugs to the main project. The issue is not with the packages from Debian Stable or Ubuntu LTS, but with the package from Linux Mint and the complaints coming specifically from Linux Mint users, not from Debian and Ubuntu users. If complaints were being submitted by users of Debian and Ubuntu packages, a similar request would have been directed at those projects. <\/p>\n
The accompanying package in Linux Mint stated that the difference between the packages from Debian\/Ubuntu and the one from Linux Mint is only in some additional fixes, and by delivering GNOME 46 in the distribution, it cannot update GNOME Calendar to the state of GNOME 50. By removing the package specific to Linux Mint, users will get an even more problematic version, but now from the Ubuntu 24.04 LTS repository, also based on GNOME 46, but without the bug fixes added by the accompanying package in Linux Mint. Therefore, the only way to block the delivery of outdated versions of GNOME Calendar in Linux Mint and LMDE is to remove the package from Ubuntu 24.04 LTS and Debian 13; otherwise, these versions will still be installed from the repositories of these distributions. <\/p>\n
One participant in the discussion suggested solving the problem by adding a field with the version of GNOME Calendar in the bug report template, which would allow requests related to outdated versions to be closed immediately. The GNOME Calendar developer noted that complaints are not limited to the official bug report submission form, and many users report issues through social networks, Matrix chat, and other communication channels. In response, the accompanying package asked a question\u2014what does the removal of links in the 'About' dialog have to do with it, when the developer simply does not want users to run old versions. <\/p>\n
After this, the support representative closed the ticket, explaining that removing links in the 'About' dialog will only address the issue in the short term and will not eliminate the systemic problem of supplying outdated versions in LTS distributions. Moreover, such a change would also need to be made in Debian and Ubuntu, as there are no reasons that this issue could affect Mint but not appear in Ubuntu and Debian. The license for GNOME Calendar allows for unlimited distribution of the program, and to prevent the supply of old versions, a transition to a non-free license is necessary. <\/p>\n