Why is there currently no bitcoin package in Debian?

Question

Why is the bitcoin package currently not in Debian? And how to help get it back in there?

It'd make it a lot easier for more people to run a full node with this.

https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/bitcoin

Answer 1

Why is there currently no bitcoin package in Debian?

Your link also says:

action needed

Problems while searching for a new upstream version                  high  
2 security issues in sid                                             high  
Depends on packages which need a new maintainer                      normal  
The package has not entered testing even though the delay is over    normal  
Build log checks report 1 warning                                    low  
Standards version of the package is outdated.                        wishlist  

testing migrations

excuses:

• Migration status for bitcoin (- to 0.18.1~dfsg-1): BLOCKED: Rejected/violates migration policy/introduces a regression
• Issues preventing migration:
• Updating bitcoin introduces new bugs: #939608
• Additional info:
• Piuparts tested OK - https://piuparts.debian.org/sid/source/b/bitcoin.html
• 241 days old (needed 5 days)
• Not considered

If you drill into the details you find security bugs such as CVE-2019-15947

In Bitcoin Core 0.18.0, bitcoin-qt stores wallet.dat data unencrypted in memory. Upon a crash, it may dump a core file. If a user were to mishandle a core file, an attacker can reconstruct the user's wallet.dat file, including their private keys, via a grep "6231 0500" command.

I guess time needs to be spent resolving all the issues identified with the package.