I'll agree with issue 1, for me uptodate="most FOSS apps from an LTS distro will build without complicated tweaks." Using workarounds for a newer debhelper - I can cope with it, but if debhelper is too old to build an app - it's not up to date. If I need to port n libs, but they'll allow themselves to be ported - ok. If the lib is a core lib and can't be upgraded - not up to date.

But I don't think rebasing Maemo will fix the issue 2. Most devs need only Qt4/Qt5/Gtk plus some core libraries. The problems is that too few devs want to develop for Maemo. A major blocker could be Qt5 unavailable in extras, because of lack of extras-thumb

But let's stop for a moment... Do we need some new apps for Maemo? I guess we could find some, but these are not myriads. Mostly these are lacks of particular features, for example thread view in Modest, offline nav in modRana, full-featured voice nav, so big apps. Or a decent browser upgrade. Having the system upgraded would possibly improve their performance, but if no one wants to add threads in modest now, he won't do it when he has libc6 2.15 and glib 2.35. It could ease up porting software - if you can use SparQl for tracker, or the Harmattan signon libraries, it'll be easier for you to port it and there's greater chance you'll proceed to do it.

The problem is how to motivate people to develop the needed software. Unfortunately there's no Maemo Coding Competition. Maybe we should make a list of what we need, make a community fund to pay the dev a couple of beers (after they complete a task! - might be with other's help), in other words - make developing for Maemo attractive. FOSS is great, but you have to have money be able to develop it.

From another point of view, I see no use in throwing Maemo away - who's gonna redo the UI from scratch?

Summing up, rebasing the whole system, in other words upgrading it, won't be a panacea for all problems, but might give a little boost for what's under the hood.

Feel free to add your thoughts, and/or move it into the Brainstorm section.