Re: [gentoo-dev] Policy questions - Adding USE flags and licenses...

[Robin H. Johnson]

On Wed, Jan 21, 2004 at 03:02:12AM -0800, Jeremy Huddleston wrote:
> 1.  What's the policy for adding new USE flags to gentoo?  I recently
> came across this myself when putting together an updated ebuild for
> squirrelmail which added anti-virus and gpg plugin options.  There's no
> 'gpg' USE flag... ssl is "close" but doesn't quite fit... also there is
> 'clamav' for using clamav or 'oav' for using openantivirus.org, but
> neither really fit for this package...
Local use flags are generally up to the developer (try to see if
something similar exists first tho). Global use flags need some general
consensus about getting adding. in the past this has even just taken the
form of two messages to the -dev/-core mailing list spaced at least a
week apart with no response, and the relevant developer just adding it.
However some use flags are very hotly contested (server and client as an
example) and there will never be a solid consensus.

> 2.  What's the policy for adding new licenses to licenses/?  What if the
> license is just for one specific package?
read the license very carefully first and see if you can fit it into any
of the common license types (as-is, BSD, ...).
Take this for an example:
http://www.orbis-terrarum.net/~robbat2/COPYRIGHTS.ns

Thats for net-analyzer/ns.
Although the licenses look very different, they are actually all BSD or
as-is licenses, and the package is so marked 'BSD as-is'.

If you're confused by some license, try asking in the channel or the
mailing list, with a pointer to the license, and somebody will lend a
hand or just say go ahead and add it.

-- 
Robin Hugh Johnson
E-Mail     : robbat2@××××××××××××××.net
Home Page  : http://www.orbis-terrarum.net/?l=people.robbat2
ICQ#       : 30269588 or 41961639
GnuPG FP   : 11AC BA4F 4778 E3F6 E4ED  F38E B27B 944E 3488 4E85