SlackBuilds.org Orphaned Build FAQ, first draft
[this will eventually be turned into HTML and made prettier]
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Q: What is an orphaned build?

A: A SlackBuild that has no active maintainer.

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Q: How does a build become orphaned?

A: Usually, one of these:
   - The maintainer abandoned it (no longer wants to maintain it).
   - The maintainer disappeared (hasn't updated anything or responded to email in years).

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Q: What happens to orphaned builds?

A: Eventually, they get removed from SBo. In the past, orphaned builds have been
   allowed to stay in the repo for months or even years. Starting soon, there will
   be an automatic process that removes orphaned builds after they've been orphaned
   for some number of days (90, 120, or maybe 180; we still haven't decided).

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Q: My build got orphaned! What happened, and what can I do about it?

A: Possibly you missed some emails from a SBo user or admin. After a few weeks
   of non-response, we have to assume you're no longer paying attention.

   If we orphaned your build in error, you can just submit an
   update/PR/MR with your name and email address in the .info file (in
   other words, put it back like it was). You don't actually have to
   ask for permission or tell us you're doing this.

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Q: I have a build I don't want to (or can't) maintain any more. How do I
   orphan it?

A: Before you consider doing that, you should ask on the mailing list whether
   anyone would like to take over maintenance.

   If nobody responds to the request after a week or so, you can go ahead
   and orphan your build. To do this, change the MAINTAINER and EMAIL in
   the build's .info file to *exactly* this:

     MAINTAINER="orphaned - no maintainer"
     EMAIL="NOEMAIL"

   It's important to be exact: we have scripts that depend on these
   values for maintainer and name, which might get confused if you
   change them.

   For your commit message (or submission comment if you use the site's
   submission form), you can keep it as simple as:

     <category>/<build>: Orphaned by maintainer.

   Optionally, if you want to add an explanation of why you're
   orphaning the build, that's best done by adding comments near the
   top of the .SlackBuild itself. E.g.

     # Orphaned by <your name> on <date> because
     # <reason>

   ...where <reason> might be something like "This is a hardware driver, and I
   no longer own the hardware it's for", or "No longer have free time to spend
   on SlackBuilds".

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Q: Can I take over an orphaned build?

A: Yes! Please do. We'd rather see the build stay in the repo and be actively
   maintained. If you want to take over an orphaned build, just do it: Send
   a submission/PR/MR, with your name/email in the .info file and any other
   changes you want to make. You don't have to ask for permission or notify
   anyone.

   In the unlikely event that someone else has also decided to take over the
   build at the same time, we (the admins) will post that fact on the mailing
   list, and you and the other maintainer can decide which of you get the build.

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Q: One of my builds depends on a build that got orphaned. What should I do?

A: You should take over maintenance of the orphaned build. If you don't,
   eventually the orphaned build may be deleted, which would leave
   your build broken. Alternatively, if you really can't take it over,
   you should ask on the mailing list; someone else might be able to
   take it instead.

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Q: How do I find orphaned builds that I might want to take over?

A: One way is to use the website's "advanced search", choose Maintainer
   as the search type, and NOEMAIL as the search term.

   Another way is to just click this link:

   https://slackbuilds.org/advsearch.php?stype=maint&q=NOEMAIL

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Q: How do I find out how long it's been since a build became orphaned?

A: Clone the git repo (if you haven't already):

     git clone git://git.slackbuilds.org/slackbuilds.git

   ...then "cd" to the directory for the build you're wondering
   about. If the build is called foobar:

     cd slackbuilds/*/foobar

   ...then run this:

     git -P blame -L/MAINTAINER/,+1 ./*.info

   ...which will show something like:

   a8f3447a2bb (B. Watson 2025-10-11 00:27:38 -0400 9) MAINTAINER="orphaned - no maintainer"

   ...which shows the date/time of orphaning, plus the user who orphaned it.