5.24 is out, could you please sync?

Check the debian import schedule.
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/NattyReleaseSchedule

Its on dec 30th, so whatever is in unstable should be collected. Unstable is: 5.24.00-1
http://packages.qa.debian.org/r/root-system.html

if you need the backporting, you can either do it by hand using your own ppa, or install the packages manually

my backport try failed:

XrdCnsEvent.o XrdCnsEvent.cc
Compiling XrdCnsMain.cc
g++ -c -D_LARGEFILE_SOURCE -D_LARGEFILE64_SOURCE -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -D_ALL_SOURCE -D_REENTRANT -D_GNU_SOURCE -fPIC -rdynamic -Wall -Wno-deprecated -D__linux__ -O2 -DXrdDEBUG=0 -DHAVE_FSTATAT -DHAVE_LIBZ -I. -I.. -o ../../obj/XrdCnsMain.o XrdCnsMain.cc
Creating executable ../../bin/XrdCnsd
g++ -D_LARGEFILE_SOURCE -D_LARGEFILE64_SOURCE -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -D_ALL_SOURCE -D_REENTRANT -D_GNU_SOURCE -fPIC -rdynamic -Wall -Wno-deprecated -D__linux__ -O2 -DXrdDEBUG=0 -DHAVE_FSTATAT -DHAVE_LIBZ ../../obj/XrdCnsConfig.o ../../obj/XrdCnsDaemon.o ../../obj/XrdCnsEvent.o ../../obj/XrdCnsMain.o ../../lib/libXrdPosix.a ../../lib/libXrdClient.a -L../../lib -lXrdNet -lXrdOuc -lXrdSys -lXrd -lnsl -lpthread -lrt -ldl -lc -o ../../bin/XrdCnsd
Make XrdCns done.
Making apps component...
cd src/XrdApps;\
        /usr/bin/make all ARCH=x86_64_linux_26 --no-print-directory
g++ -g -c -D_LARGEFILE_SOURCE -D_LARGEFILE64_SOURCE -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -D_ALL_SOURCE -D_REENTRANT -D_GNU_SOURCE -fPIC -rdynamic -Wall -Wno-deprecated -D__linux__ -O2 -DXrdDEBUG=0 -DHAVE_FSTATAT -DHAVE_LIBZ -Wno-strict-aliasing -I. -I.. -o ../../obj/Xrdadler32.o Xrdadler32.cc
Creating executable ../../bin/xrdadler32
g++ -D_ALL_SOURCE -D_REENTRANT -D_GNU_SOURCE -fPIC -rdynamic -Wall -Wno-deprecated -D__linux__ -O2 ../../obj/Xrdadler32.o ../../lib/libXrdPosix.a ../../lib/libXrdClient.a ../../lib/libXrdCrypto.a ../../lib/libXrdSut.a ../../lib/libXrdNet.a ../../lib/libXrdOuc.a ../../lib/libXrdSys.a -lpthread -lnsl -lpthread -lrt -ldl -lc -lz -o ../../bin/xrdadler32
Make XrdApps done.
Make all done
make[2]: Leaving directory `/scratch/sengun/root-system-5.24.00/net/xrootd/src/xrootd'
touch: cannot touch `net/xrootd/src/xrootd/LastBuild.d': No such file or directory
make[1]: *** [net/xrootd/src/xrootd/LastBuild.d] Error 1
rm core/utils/src/RStl_tmp.cxx core/utils/src/rootcint_tmp.cxx
make[1]: Leaving directory `/scratch/sengun/root-system-5.24.00'
make: *** [build-arch-stamp] Error 2
dpkg-buildpackage: error: debian/rules build gave error exit status 2
debuild: fatal error at line 1340:
dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot -D -us -uc failed

Yes, the package is broken. This would be the "unstable" bit:

https://buildd.debian.org/status/package.php?p=root-system&suite=unstable

Hmm.The maintainer as let this slide.. since late 2009. If you solve the problem, please, for everyone's sake, generate a patch :)

http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=552678

meanwhile https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=981113