[Savannah-register-public] Re: [task #10496] Submission of Quagga Routing Software

[Paul Jakma]

On Sun, 5 Sep 2010, Alex Fernandez wrote:

> Hi Paul,
>
> Sorry for the delay; there is a bit of a backlog after the summer 
> Holidays. I am reviewing your submission on behalf of Savannah, and 
> there are a few issues with it:

> * You speak about "Linux", but we prefer that you use "GNU/Linux": 
> it gives credit to the GNU project besides the Linux kernel. Read 
> the Hosting requirements 
> <https://savannah.gnu.org/register/requirements.php> for more 
> details.

Oops, yes.

> * Some documentation files (NEWS, README, Changelog...) lack the 
> required GPL header.

The ChangeLog file is deprecated iirc. We'll remove it. For stuff 
like a README file, I'm not eniterly sure it makes sense to add a GPL 
header - it would detract from the immediacy of the content. Further, 
I do not anticipate ever caring about copyright infringement on such 
files, and anyway it should already be clear from the COPYING file 
that these are GPLed (the header is added to more important files, 
like C source, just to ensure readers can't miss the fact).

> * There are a few PNG files in there, but it's not clear where they 
> come from. The best solution is usually to state in the README or 
> some similar file the license for each one.

You're probably looking at a 'make dist' tarball, and the PNGs come 
from the 'Dia' files in the same directory, I think.

> Please upload a new tarball with these issues solved, and let us know when
> it's ready for a new review, OK?

Ok, that will take a week or so - am on holidays. ;)

> Finally, you say that Quagga is a fork of GNU Zebra; while forks 
> are sometimes necessary (and GNU Zebra seems to have stopped 
> development in 2005), it might be better to help the original 
> package move along. Have you contacted the authors of GNU Zebra, 
> and/or the GNU project, to see if they would like some 
> contributors?

Yes we did. We were in contact with RMS and the FSF about this even 
before the fork - which was quite a while ago. The original GNU 
project is mostly dead in terms of community and development, 
relative to Quagga. Unfortunately, they were not willing to hand the 
project on.

As per Karl, things just are as they are in this regard.

I'll try address your issues soon. I will probably submit a tarfile 
without the auto-generated bits next time (maintainer clean kind of 
thing).

regards,
--
Paul Jakma      address@hidden  Key ID: 64A2FF6A
Fortune:
Ray's Rule of Precision:
        Measure with a micrometer.  Mark with chalk.  Cut with an axe.