# Should I be the maintainer or leave it to ports@FreeBSD.org?



## bjs (Mar 30, 2022)

Some time ago I was able to figure out, on my own, how to manually update multimedia/plexmediaserver in my local ports tree by editing a couple lines in Makefile, deleting distinfo, and running `make makesum`. Then I could update using my normal method of updating ports with `portmaster`. During my lastest editing of Makefile, I noticed that the maintainer had been changed to ports@FreeBSD.org on the previous update. Well, figuring I would do my little part, I signed up and submitted my first two bugs, PR 262915 and PR 262916 to update multimedia/plexmediaserver-plexpass and multimedia/plexmediaserver respectively to the latest versions and attached a `diff` file. Thank you!  lol

Now I know this wasn't some great programming feat, Plex provides the complete binary for FreeBSD and previous programmers provided the rest of the port. But understand I have no formal education in programming!  Matter of fact, the last time I tried my hand at any serious (to me) programming was trying to learn Apple Basic back in the mid to late 80s by coding a small personal address book database. lol Also, being an old burnout from the late fifties, I am not really interested in learning programming now or even how to use github, I spend my days lurking in a few forums, surfing the internet, and doating over my wonderful wife and our teenage daughter when they are home. Point being, I would not be able to figure out any serious problems that might arise in the future with these two ports, hence the subject of this post. Should I go ahead and be the maintainer or leave things as they are and just submit a bug report with a `diff` file to update these programs? And for anyone who does care to look at the PRs, I am open to suggestions how to improve my future PRs to make it easier on people upstream.


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## SirDice (Mar 30, 2022)

bjs said:


> Well, figuring I would do my little part, I signed up and submitted my first two bugs, PR 262915 and PR 262916 to update multimedia/plexmediaserver-plexpass and multimedia/plexmediaserver respectively to the latest versions and attached a `diff` file. Thank you!  lol


Awesome.


bjs said:


> Now I know this wasn't some great programming feat, Plex provides the complete binary for FreeBSD and previous programmers provided the rest of the port.


It's probably one of the easiest ports, most of the work is already done by Plex themselves. That said, it still needs someone to keep it maintained. 



bjs said:


> Point being, I would not be able to figure out any serious problems that might arise in the future with these two ports, hence the subject of this post.


I doubt there will be serious issues but they could happen of course. If you have a problem like that you can always ask for help here or on the mailing list. 



bjs said:


> Should I go ahead and be the maintainer or leave things as they are and just submit a bug report with a `diff` file to update these programs?


Don't jump the gun just now. If I recall correctly this port _should_ have frequent updates. So even with everything building smoothly each time, you're still going to need to do those updates if you're the maintainer. That will take time. The question is, do you have that time to do those updates. As frequently as possible. 



bjs said:


> And for anyone who does care to look at the PRs, I am open to suggestions how to improve my future PRs to make it easier on people upstream.


It's short and sweet. There isn't much to report on, it's "just" an update to a newer version. You added a link to the changelog, that's even better. Looks good to me.


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## Phishfry (Mar 30, 2022)

One of the things Iike to look at is the commit history. feld@ is obviously a recent maintainer, even if not officially.
I would give them a shout. They might be swamped with other ports and appreciate the helping hand.


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## bjs (Apr 8, 2022)

After having to close my two bug requests and create two new ones because of a new update upstream, my patches were committed. Plex is currently up to date.


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