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On Mon, 22 May 2006 13:29:19 +0200 |
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Paul de Vrieze <pauldv@g.o> wrote: |
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> The primary package manager is maintained on official Gentoo |
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> infrastructure, under control of Gentoo developers. |
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I sent this to gentoo-dev a couple of days ago, but it didn't get any |
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replies. I was told my mail client wasn't line wrapping which made long |
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paragraphs annoying to read on some mail clients, so people may not |
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have read it. I'd really like to know if what I propose is an |
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acceptable compromise, or if it could be changed to make it accpetable. |
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I definitely agree that Gentoo needs a team of people to deal with the |
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primary package manager, it is one of the most important tools in a |
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Linux system. It is especially important in Gentoo where the package |
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manager is, at this point in time, required to install a standard |
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desktop system. I disagree that the package manager needs to be |
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directly maintained by Gentoo. Since Gentoo will never depend upon a |
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piece of non-Free software[1], it is safe to assume that the package |
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manager is Free software (aka open source). Because of this, we will |
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never be locked-in, helpless, or under the control of an external |
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project. If we dislike the direction in which it is going or want to |
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add our own features, then we are free to do so either by submitting |
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patches upstream, adding our own custom gentoo patches to the stock |
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sources, or by forking the project entirely. |
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So what I suggest is the following: |
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"While it is desirable that the primary package manager be maintained |
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on official gentoo infrastructure, under the control of gentoo |
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developers, it is not required. During the path to becoming the primary |
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package manager, the package manager maintainers must be asked if they |
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would like their project to be an official Gentoo project. All rules |
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about projects apply. The package manager maintainers have the right to |
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refuse such an offer if there is a team of at least 3 Gentoo developers |
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that understand the package manager source code and are willing to deal |
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with bugs, testing, feature enhancements, modifications, and |
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integration." |
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I hope the above is an acceptable compromise. It aims at making the |
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project an official Gentoo project while still allowing package |
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managers that aren't under Gentoo's direct control. In that case there |
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are still Gentoo developers who have a handle on the code and can make |
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any modifications / enhancements / feature changes that are required by |
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Gentoo. |
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[1] http://www.gentoo.org/main/en/contract.xml |
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