Package abandoned?

With every Ubuntu release, there is something called Feature Freeze.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FeatureFreeze

An implication is that package versions don't change after the Feature Freeze, unless absolutely necessary, and for such occasions, there is the Freeze Exception Process.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FreezeExceptionProcess

I've never used Netatalk, and so can't say anything for or against it, but if you feel that the version of Netatalk in Oneiric must be upgraded, please follow the Freeze Exception Process guidelines.

Forgive me ignorance here, but I certainly see regular package updates even for 11.04 - certainly feature freeze doesn't mean that the version for every single package is locked in stone? Or are each of these packages just going through the freeze exception process? That doesn't seem to make much sense, though, since both 11.04 and 11.10 are released. Not sure how a development trunk freeze factors in there.

Notwithstanding that, however, there doesn't appear to be any work to update this package so that it is keeping pace with the upstream even for Pangolin.

andy@D420:~$ apt-cache policy netatalk
netatalk:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 2.2~beta4-1
  Version table:
     2.2~beta4-1 0
        500 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise/universe i386 Packages

It's not abandoned at all or it would not be in Precise (due for release in April 2012). You can submit a bu stating why the newer version should be added, bug fixes and security updates will get it included faster.

Yes, packages are updated (bug fixes,security updates, etc), but not upgraded, so that package versions remain unchanged. For example, Oneiric was released with the kernel version 3.0, and that version will not go to 3.1, 3.2, etc. One notable exceptions to that rule is Firefox, which does get upgraded.

So if I file a bug (and I have), who exactly is going to do anything about it? My point was that the package maintainer for this project has not released anything, effectively abandoning Ununtu netatalk users (who don't install from source on their own) on 2.2.0-beta4. Ubuntu users are installing bug-ridden, unstable, beta quality code if they install this package on Oneiric or Precise, but if the package maintainer isn't releasing updates to bring it up to speed with the upstream...who exactly is going to?

Beta code is not necessarily unstable or bug-ridden, it really depends. The version in the Oneiric repositories has, apparently, been considered stable enough, otherwise, an older version would have been picked. Do you experience substantial issues with that package?

What is the output of:

lsb_release -a

I may have found a PPA...

Natty, Maverick or Lucid, use:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:bradya/netatalk; sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get upgrade

For Oneiric:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:stefanor/ppa; sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get upgrade

Actually, scratch that, for ANY release:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jstrunk-math/ppa; sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get install netatalk

Done